.1  >-J 


,  -^ 


/m*- 


■m 


i^i  A 


-r      P 


'JU'  1 


lif^ 


> 

:>'>A  -J 

>• 

:;>  3»  -:jm 

^^^^^ 

z> 

~) .  >)  _jfr 

-^J^<L 

^ 

3)T>  : 

^ 

^'^^  ,- 

> 

.:?i^:J?  I 

~M 

r-4-*'^-^   - 

> 

>y>    >~^ 

s 

SS^L^ 

^31 

*>f'l>  ^  ■_^ 

'-J-^^r^j^i 

>  •  >  ~ 

>  »  ~i 

":>  >a> 


^My^ 


vx^xxi 


^i  tUt  Ibealagfc^i  j. 


%^ 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


% 


5/J^^ 


Division 

Section 

Number 


M 


t  %  ?  !  ♦  vA_    yj  tin<i 


y/: 


>  3  3  - 


"->^  :■>;:>  ^^. 


r-^S^:>  • 


.-     .,""- ::^: ■—        ^^ 

-  ,  — 

» 

""^"^   ..  '"   ^'-^ 

r*^ 

^.Jtl 

5 

k    ""~>  ."^  ^^ 

id^ 
"^b 

31 
3 

r 

"^ 

: ^ 

»    ■  ': 

;3 

^^>> 


-.*:>  ^^ 


_^'3t3>'~':^ 


^-^  .^^ 


^ 


7  ti 

THE 

IMPORTANCE  OF  RELIGION 

TO    THE 

LEGAL     PROFESSION: 


WITH  SOME  REMARKS  ON  THE  CHARACTER 


OF   THE    LATE 


CHARLES  CHAUNCEY,  Esq. 


A     DISCOURSE      DELIVERED      ON      SUNDAY      EVENING,     SEPTEMBER     30tH,      AND 

REPEATED    ON    SUNDAY    EVENING,    OCTOBER     I4th,    1849,    IN    THE 

TENTH    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,    PHILADELPHIA. 


>' 


By  henry  a.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D 


PHILADELPHIA : 

PUBLISHED  BY  WM.  S.  MARTIEN, 

No.  142  Chestnut  Street. 
1849. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/importanceofreliOOboar 


■■'% 

rw_,._  Philadelphia,  October  15,  1S49. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir: 

In  pursuance  of  the  intimation  contained  in  our  note  of  the  first  instant,  the 
undersigned,  members  of  your  congregation,  now  ask  the  favour  of  a  copy  of 
the  discourse  repeated  by  you  at  our  request  and  that  of  other  gentlemen  of 
the  profession,  on  the  fourteenth  instant,  for  publication. 

The  name  of  Charles  Chauncey,  so  happily  introduced  by  you  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  great  leading  object  of  your  discourse,  belongs  to  the  whole  com- 
munity, as  well  as  to  the  legal  profession.  His  great  virtues  and  rare  endow- 
ments— his  talents,  learning,  and  practical  benevolence — guided  withal  by 
"  that  wisdom  which  cometh  from  above,"  cannot  be  too  often,  nor  too  widely 
commemorated. 

With  a  strong  desire  to  cultivate  the  sentiments  of  your  excellent  discourse, 
We  subscribe  ourselves,  your  friends  and  servants, 

R.  C.  Grier.  Chas.  B.  Penrose. 

John  K.  Findlay.  James  Ross  Snowden. 

W.  H.  Dillingham.  Charles  Gilpin. 

John  R.  Vogdes.  Wm.  A.  Porter. 

Samuel  Hood.  E.  Spencer  Miller. 

W.  B.  HiESKELL.  Edw.  Armstrong. 

To  the  Rev.  Dr.  Henrv  A.  Boardman. 


'"^  Philadelphia,  October  15th,  1849. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir: 

The  undersigned,  several  of  whom  united  with  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Bar  of 
your  own  congregation  in  the  expression  of  a  wish  that  you  should  repeat 
your  able  and  eloquent  discourse  upon  the  importance  of  religion  to  the  legal 
profession,  now,  with  equal  pleasure,  join  them  in  asking  for  its  publication. 
We  listened  with  great  satisfaction  to  your  graphic  description  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  late  Charles  Chauncey,  Esq.,  universally  and  justly  regarded  as 
one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  profession.  The  whole  discourse  might 
well  be  characterized  as  one  of  the  happiest  efforts  of  clerical  eloquence. 
We  regard  it  as  calculated  to  do  great  good,  and  shall  be  happy  to  see  it 
widely  disseminated. 

We  are,  very  respectfully  and  faithfully,  yours, 

Ed.  E.  Law.  J.  R.  Ingersoll. 

Joel  Jones.  H.  J.  Williams. 

James  Dundas.  Wm.  E.  Whitman. 

Ferdinand  W.  Hubbell.       Geo.  Emlen. 

B.  Gerhard.  Ch.  Gibbons. 

Samuel  H.  Perkins.  Garrick  Mallery. 

Edward  Hopper.  David  Paul  Brown. 

To  the  Rev,  Dr.  Boardman. 


Philadelphia,  October  19th,  1849. 
Gentlemen: 

I  am  quite  sensible  that  the  interest  excited  by  the  discourse  which  you  have 
done  me  the  honour  to  request  for  publication,  must  be  ascribed  mainly  to  the 
subject  and  the  occasion.  The  discourse  was  prepared  from  a  conviction,  that 
the  death  of  that  eminent  and  excellent  man  whom  an  all-wise  Providence  has 
lately  taken  from  us,  afforded  a  suitable  opportunity  for  inculcating,  especially 
upon  the  Legal  Profession,  the  virtues  which  were  so  happily  illustrated  in 
his  life.  That  this  humble  attempt  to  improve  a  bereavement  which  affects 
our  "whole  community,"  should  have  met  with  the  approval  of  a  body  of 
gentlemen  so  honourably  representing  both  the  Bench  and  the  Bar,  is  ex- 
tremely gratifying  to  my  feelings.  I  cannot  refuse  a  request  emanating  from 
such  a  source,  and  herewith  submit  the  manuscript  to  your  disposal. 

I  am,  Gentlemen,  with  great  regard,  your  friend, 

H.  A.  BOAHDMAN. 

To  the  Hon.  R.  C.  Grier,  Hon.  John  K.  Findlay, 
Hon.  Joel  Jones,  and  Edw.  E.  Law,  Joseph  R. 
Ingersoll,  H.  J.  Williams,  James  Dundas,  Ferdi- 
nand W.  Hubbell,  B.  Gerhard,  Samuel  H.  Perkins, 
Wm.  E.  Whitman,  George  Emlen,  Ch.  Gibbons, 
Garrick  Mallery,  Edward  Hopper,  David  Paul 
Brown,  Wm.  H.  Dillingham,  John  R.  Vogdes, 
Charles  B.  Penrose,  James  Ross  Snowden,  Charles 
Gilpin,  Wm.  A.  Porter,  Samuel  Hood,  E.  Spen- 
cer Miller,  William  B.  Hieskell,  Edward  Arm- 
strong, Esquires. 


DISCOUUSE 


Mark  the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright  :  for  the  end  of  that 
MAN  IS  PEACE. — Psalm  xxxvii.  37. 

We  read  in  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  that,  on  a  certain  occa- 
sion, a  lawyer  stood  up  and  "tempted"  our  Saviour,  saying, 
"Master,  what  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?"  It  was 
a  good  question,  though  prompted  by  a  bad  motive — a 
question  every  way  to  be  commended,  whether  we  regard 
the  subject  to  which  it  relates,  the  Being  to  whom  it  was 
addressed,  or  the  individual  who  propounded  it.  It  were  a 
waste  of  words  to  undertake  to  prove  that  it  must  be  to 
every  individual  the  most  momentous  of  all  questions. 
And  just  in  proportion  to  the  gravity  of  the  question,  is  it 
of  importance  that  we  should  look  well  to  whom  we  apply 
for  an  answer.  For  the  answers  it  has  received,  and  is 
daily  receiving,  are  extremely  various  and  contradictory ; 
and  if  we  happen  to  be  misled,  the  consequences  must  be 
disastrous,  and  may  be  irretrievable.  This  lawyer  set  us  a 
wholesome  example,  not,  indeed,  in  respect  to  the  spirit 
which  suggested  his  inquiry,  but  in  respect  to  the  source  at 
which  he  sought  information.  He  alone  who  has  salvation 
to  bestow,  can  teach  us  how  it  is  to  be  obtained.  If  we 
2 


rely  upon  a  teacher  of  philosophy,  or  a  teacher  of  religion, 
however  learned  and  exemplary,  we  may  fall  into  error ;  if 
we  follow  implicitly  the  utterances  of  this  or  that  sect,  or 
venture  to  lean  upon  what  we  believe  to  be  "the  Church," 
as  an  infallible  guide,  we  may  possibly  rest  our  hopes  for 
eternity  upon  a  foundation  as  truly  foreign  from  the  real 
foundation,  as  Platonism  or  Buddhism  is  from  Christianity. 
Life  and  immortality  have  been  brought  to  light  in  the 
gospel :  and  the  gospel  is  the  only  chart  which  can  conduct 
us  to  heaven.  He  who  takes  up  with  any  other  teacher 
than  Christ,  may  expect  to  come  short  of  eternal  life. 

It  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that  the  person  who  put  this 
question  to  the  Saviour  was  a  lawyer.  "We  know  nothing 
of  his  character  beyond  what  is  revealed  in  the  brief  ac- 
count of  this  transaction ;  and  he  is  exhibited  to  us  here  in 
no  very  prepossessing  aspect.  Arguing  from  this  inter- 
view, we  do  him  no  injustice  in  supposing  that  he  was  a 
man  too  much  immersed  in  the  cares  and  conflicts  of  the 
world,  to  have  given  much  attention  to  the  claims  of  spir- 
itual religion.  A  Pharisee  he  might  have  been,  and  a 
zealous  devotee  in  his  way,  but  he  was  manifestly  a  stranger 
to  genuine  piety.  It  had  been  well  for  him,  befitting  both 
himself  and  his  calling,  had  he  asked  in  sober  earnest,  as 
he  asked  in  subtlety,  "Master,  what  shall  I  do  to  inherit 
eternal  life?" 

Nor  let  it  be  deemed  invidious  if  the  remark  is  made, 
that  this  duty  is  no  less  incumbent  upon  every  lawyer.  I 
say  this,  not  to  disparage  but  to  honour  the  profession. 
There  are  cogent  reasons,  aside  from  those  of  a  private  or 
personal  nature  common  to  the  members  of  the  legal  pro- 


fession  with  all  other  persons,  why  they  should  be  men  of 
Christian  integrity  and  purity — why  the  profession,  as 
A    BODY,    SHOULD    BE   PERVADED    WITH    A    SOUND    RELIGIOUS 

SENTIMENT.     The  moral  character  of  the  Bar,  no  less  than 
its  character  for  learning  and  ability,  is  a  matter  of  deep 
and  universal  concern.     It  is  not  a  matter,  Gentlemen  of 
the  Bar,  which  pertains  merely  to  your  reputation  as  indi- 
viduals, nor  to  the  relations  between  yourselves  and  your 
clients.     Even  if  it  were,  it  might  be  pertinent  to  ask.  Who 
are  your  clients  ?     For  the  purposes  of  this  argument,  the 
whole  community  are  your  clients.     There  is  no  citizen, 
however  humble  or  however  exalted,  who  may  not  at  any 
time  become   your  client.      There  is  not  one  among  our 
honourable  and  opulent  merchants,  among  the  ministers  of 
religion,  among  the  able  and  upright  jurists  who  preside 
over  your  own  courts — nay,  not  one  among  these  refined 
and  gentle  females,  our  mothers,  wives,  and  daughters,  who 
make  our  homes  the  purest  and  the  happiest  homes   on 
earth,  who  may  not,  on  any  day,  be  compelled  to  invoke 
your  protection.      You  are  the  conservators  of   our   pro- 
perty, of  our  liberty,  our  lives,  our  characters;   the  guar- 
dians of  our  firesides,  the  defenders  of  our  altars.     Have 
we  no  stake,  then,  in  your  character  ?    Have  we  no  right  to 
insist  that  a  profession  which  is  the  depository  of  our  most 
sacred  earthly  interests,  shall  omit  nothing  that  may  help 
to  qualify  them  for  their  high  trust  ?  that  they  shall  not  only 
make  themselves  masters  of  their  noble  science  in  its  prin- 
ciples and  its  technicalities,  but  cultivate   those  elevated 
moral  sentiments  which  alone  can  assure  us  that  our  confi- 
dence will  not  be  misplaced? 


8 

Let  us  look  at  the  profession  in  another  aspect.  The 
Bar  must  always,  in  a  country  like  ours,  be  the  chief  avenue 
to  civil  distinction — the  main  road  to  posts  of  emolument 
and  power.  As  such,  it  will  embrace  a  large  proportion  of 
the  educated  and  able  men  of  the  Union ;  and  the  influence 
of  such  a  body  must  necessarily  be  very  great,  irrespective 
of  their  strictly  professional  functions.  How  much,  then, 
must  this  influence  be  augmented,  when  it  is  considered  that 
they  exert  an  immediate  and  powerful  agency  in  moulding 
the  popular  will.  They  are  usually  the  leaders  in  the  collis- 
ions of  parties,  and  the  chief  speakers  even  in  the  primary 
assemblies  of  the  people.  They  fill  the  principal  offices. 
They  direct  our  legislation,  and  make  the  laws  which  it 
devolves  upon  them  to  administer.  They  shape  our  policy, 
domestic  and  foreign.  They  control  our  intercourse  with 
other  countries;  and  do  more  than  any  other  class  among 
us,  to  decide  the  relative  position  we  are  to  occupy  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  Not  to  expatiate  on  these  topics, 
the  bare  hint  of  them  must  suffice  to  show,  that  every  citi- 
zen is  implicated  in  the  character  of  the  Bar ;  and  that  a 
profession  clothed  with  so  lofty  a  mission,  needs,  both  for  its 
own  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  the  country,  to  be  pervaded 
with  a  wholesome  religious  sentiment.  Piety  alone  will 
not,  it  is  true,  fit  men  to  become  jurists,  diplomatists,  or 
legislators.  But  piety  is  the  basis  of  good  morals.  It 
makes  men  conscientious.  It  stimulates  them  to  acquire 
the  qualifications  demanded  by  the  stations  Providence  may 
assign  them,  and  puts  them  upon  using  their  abilities  for 
the  best  ends.  If  evangelical  Christianity  were  enthroned, 
not  in  our  halls  of  justice  merely,  but  in  the  hearts  of  all 


wlio  serve  at  her  altars,  tlieir  great  influence  Tvould  tell,  if 
the  expression  may  be  pardoned,  far  more  auspiciously  than 
it  does  now,  upon  the  leading  interests  of  the  country.  It 
would  moderate  the  spirit  of  faction — the  bane  of  all  re- 
publics. It  might  repress  the  idolatry  of  mammon,  and 
curb  the  lust  of  conquest — two  of  the  brood  of  baser  pas- 
sions which  have  acquired  an  Herculean  growth  in  our  soil. 
It  would  check  the  prevailing  tendency  to  rash  and  hasty 
legislation,  and  teach  visionary  reformers  that  they  "should 
approach  to  the  faults  of  the  State  as  to  the  wounds  of  a 
father,  with  pious  awe  and  trembling  solicitude."*  It 
would  be  felt  through  all  the  frame-work  of  society,  in 
extinguishing  vice,  alleviating  misery,  fostering  education, 
and  consolidating  the  institutions  of  Christianity. 

Even  if  the  members  of  the  Bar,  then,  could  dispense 
with  religion  as  a  personal  concern,  the  just  claims  of  the 
country  upon  the  profession,  would  forbid  them  to  slight 
its  obligations. 

But  they  cannot  well  dispense  with  it  as  a  personal  con- 
cern. Christianity  challenges  their  homage,  not  only  as 
revealing  to  them  the  way  of  salvation,  but  as  supply- 
ing the  most  valuable  aids  in  the  practice  of  their  profes- 
sion.    Let  us  dwell  for  a  few  moments  on  this  topic. 

A  very  little  consideration  will  suflSce  to  show  that  an 
intelligent,  scriptural  faith,  must  be  of  great  assistance  in 
forming  a  just  estimate  of  the  nature  and  objects  of  the 
legal  profession.  How  grossly  these  are  misconceived,  not 
only  by  many  of  the  populace,  but  by  no''  inconsiderable 
number   of  those   who   write   themselves   "Attorney  and 

*  Burke  on  the  French  Revolution. 


10 

Counsellor,"  must  he  but  too  -well  known  to  every  respect- 
able member  of  the  profession.  In  the  judgment  of  these 
persons,  the  law  is  not  a  science,  but  a  trade — not  a  trade 
even,  but  a  system  of  trickery.  They  come  to  the  Bar  as  a 
gambler  to  his  club,  to  be  honest  where  it  is  politic  to  be 
honest,  and  to  practice  fraud  and  chicanery  where  chi- 
canery and  fraud  promise  larger  gains.  They  see  nothing 
in  a  law-suit  but  a  private  dispute  or  quarrel,  a  sort  of 
pugilistic  encounter,  in  which  it  is  all  one  to  the  community 
who  beats  and  who  is  beaten.  Their  grovelling  minds  can- 
not expand  sufficiently  to  take  in  the  idea  that  the  processes 
going  on  before  their  eyes  in  the  courts,  are  processes  in 
■which  we,  who  seldom  or  never  enter  a  court-room,  have  an 
interest  second  only,  and  in  some  instances  not  second,  to 
that  of  the  parties  litigant ;  that  a  claim  for  the  worth  of  a 
lamb,  or  a  case  of  assault  and  battery  between  two  inebri-- 
ates,  may  fairly  "bristle  with  points  of  law — law  that  is 
involved  in  a  large  proportion  of  the  common  transactions, 
of  life;"  that  the  dollars  and  cents  involved  in  any  suit, 
though  amounting  to  millions  of  money,  are  of  as  little 
relative  value  when  compared  Avith  the  principles  at  issue, 
as  was  the  tea  thrown  overboard  in  Boston  harbour,  when 
weighed  against  the  emancipation  of  a  great  nation.  To 
all  this,  the  reckless  pettifoggers  of  the  profession  are  blind. 
But  there  can  be  no  occasion  to  remind  ^ou — and  if  there 
were,  it  would  not  be  decorous  in  the  speaker  to  become 
your  mentor — that  "the  science  of  Jurisprudence,  the  pride 
of  the  human  intellect,  with  all  its  defects,  redundancies 
and  errors,  is  the  collected  reason  of  ages,  combining  the 
principles   of  original  justice  with  the  infinite  variety  of 


11 

human  concerns."*  You  have  not  to  learn  that  next  to  the 
influence  of  the  gospel,  it  is  the  presence  and  pervading 
power  of  Law  which  distinguishes  free  from  despotic  gov- 
ernments, Christian  from  Pagan  nations — that  to  annihi- 
hite  law,  is  to  extinguish  all  incentive  to  industry,  and  all 
motive  to  honourable  ambition — that  where  there  is  no 
law,  science  will  languish  and  the  arts  decay ;  factories  will 
be  closed,  commerce  will  dismantle  her  ships,  capital  will 
hide  itself,  credit,  and  all  that  is  built  upon  it,  will  die, 
confidence  between  man  and  man  will  be  destroyed;  and  in 
place  of  thrift  and  comfort,  there  will  be  universal  suspicion 
and  distrust,  violence  and  misery. 

These  views  are  familiar  to  you.  In  so  far  as  they  go, 
they  are  right  views.  And  while  they  may  undoubtedly  be 
entertained  and  acted  upon  by  individuals  who  are  not 
under  the  control  of  religious  principle,  it  is  no  less  obvious 
that  they  are  the  views  which  a  Christian  lawyer  must  take 
of  his  profession.  It  is  the  uniform  and  necessary  tendency 
of  Christianity  to  expand  and  liberalize  the  mind,  while  it 
informs  the  conscience.  It  is  the  essential  habit  of  men 
who  live  under  its  influence,  to  connect  all  themes,  all 
interests,  all  pursuits,  with  the  great  First  Cause.  And 
such  men,  when  called  to  the  Bar,  must  belie  every  prin- 
ciple of  their  new  nature,  if,  instead  of  framing  a  compre- 
hensive and  dignified  estimate  of  the  profession,  they  dwarf 
it  down  into  a  system  of  legerdemain,  or  an  arena  for  gla- 
diatorial shows. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  personal 
religion  in  the  actual  practice  of  your  profession.     Whether 

*  Mr.  Burke. 


12 

regard  be  had  to  its  temptations,  its  trials,  or  its  duties,  to 
the  dangers  to  be  shunned  or  the  difficulties  to  be  met ;  in 
every  view,  religion  must  be  considered  as  of  the  last 
importance.  It  will  not,  it  is  true,  supply  the  absence  of 
the  requisite  intellectual  furniture;  it  will  neither  confer 
learning,  nor  genius,  nor  eloquence.  But  it  will  do  much  to 
correct  the  evil  tempers,  and  shield  from  the  temptations, 
which  are  so  often  fatal  to  the  youthful  aspirant  at  the 
Bar ;  and  to  foster  those  moral  qualities  and  habits  on  which 
respectability  and  success  largely  depend.  Among  these 
qualities  are  self-control,  benevolence,  candour,  kindness  of 
heart,  and  a  love  of  truth  and  justice.  That  the  characters 
of  individuals  who  make  no  pretensions  to  personal  religion 
arc  sometimes  graced  with  these  attributes,  is  readily  con- 
ceded ;  but  it  is  a  circumstance  too  certain  and  too  serious 
to  be  overlooked,  that  a  large  part  of  the  virtue  current  in 
the  world,  is  the  virtue  rather  of  education,  of  habit,  of 
interest,  of  listless  conformity  to  the  prevailing  usages  of 
society,  than  the  virtue  of  principle.  Mr.  Coleridge  has 
expressed  this  thought  with  his  customary  felicity,  in  lan- 
guage which,  with  very  little  alteration,  would  be  quite  as 
applicable  to  our  country  as  to  England.  "  It  would  furnish 
grounds  both  for  humility  towards  Providence,  and  for 
increased  attachment  to  our  country,  if  each  individual 
could  but  see  and  feel  how  large  a  part  of  his  innocence  he 
owes  to  his  birth,  breeding,  and  residence  in  Great  Britain. 
The  administration  of  the  laws;  the  almost  continual 
preaching  of  moral  prudence;  the  number  and  respecta- 
bility of  our  sects ;  the  pressure  of  our  ranks  on  each 
other,  with   the   consequent   reserve   and   watchfulness   of 


13 

demeanor  in  the  superior  ranks  and  the  emulation  in  the 
subordinate;  the  vast  depth,  expansion,  and  systematic 
movements  of  our  trade;  and  the  consequent  inter-depen- 
dence, the  arterial,  or  nerve-like  nct-tvork  of  property, 
which  make  every  deviation  from  outward  integrity  a  cal- 
culable loss  to  the  individual  himself  from  its  mere  effects, 
as  obstruction  and  irregularity ;  and,  lastly,  the  naturalness 
of  doing  as  others  do :  these,  and  the  like  influences,  pecu- 
liar, some  in  the  kind,  and  all  in  the  degree,  to  this  privi- 
leged Island,  are  the  buttresses  on  which  our  foundationless 
well-doing  is  upheld,  even  as  a  house  of  cards,  the  architec- 
ture of  our  infancy,  in  which  each  is  upheld  by  all."* 

It  is  in  no  censorious  spirit  that  the  opinion  is  expressed, 
that  much  of  the  "well-doing"  among  ourselves  rests  upon 
no  firmer  "  buttresses"  than  these.  Better  indeed  is  it  for 
society,  far  better,  that  it  should  be  leavened  with  this  dilute 
and  fickle  morality,  than  given  up  to  the  sway  of  rampant 
wickedness.  But  few  will  venture  to  deny,  that  the  exigen- 
cies of  our  probationary  state  can  be  adequately  met  only 
by  a  morality  which  reposes  on  the  impregnable  basis  of 
religion.  The  vicissitudes  of  life  are  too  painful,  its  conflicts 
too  violent,  and  its  seductions  too  captivating,  for  unassisted 
humanity:  man  must  be  endowed  with  a  celestial  virtue, 
and  sustained  by  an  Almighty  arm,  if  he  would  "  keep 
himself  unspotted  from  the  world,"  and  live  as  a  ra- 
tional and  immortal  being  should  live.  And  the  duties  of 
an  advocate  especially  involve  so  constant  and  so  severe 
a  trial  of  character,  that  even  on  the  ground  of  personal 
reputation  and  peace  of  mind,  no  lawyer  should  be  willing 

*  Lay  Sermon. 


14 

to  dispense  with  tlie  invaluable  aid  AYliich  Christianity  offers 
him. 

With  other  men,  controversy  is  an  incidental  and  occa- 
sional thing;  with  you,  it  is  the  business  of  life.  Contro- 
versy is  your  vocation;  and  it  is  no  ordinary  degree  of 
watchfulness  that  can  preserve  you  from  forming  a  petulant 
or  imperious  temper,  the  common  vice  of  controversialists. 
No  less  open  is  the  profession  to  the  incursions  of  jealousy 
and  "lean-faced  envy."  These  twin-vipers  haunt  every 
Bar.  They  insinuate  their  venom  not  unfrequently  into 
the  most  powerful  minds ;  and  where  they  have  once  se- 
cured a  domicil,  they  can  be  driven  out,  like  other  demons, 
only  by  prayer  and  fasting.  Is  it  necessary  to  observe, 
that  the  only  effectual  antidote  to  these  vagrant  tempers  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ;  and  that  the  shortest 
and  best  way  to  acquire  the  mastery  of  one's  own  spirit — 
that  most  rare  and  difficult  achievement — is,  to  have  every 
power  and  thought  brought  into  subjection  to  the  will  of 
God? 

There  is  perhaps  no  sphere  in  which  integrity  is  of 
greater  value,  and  none  where  it  is  more  rigorously  tested, 
than  at  the  Bar.  The  temptations  to  swerve  from  it  are  of 
daily  recurrence,  and  arc  sometimes  clothed  with  a  most 
specious  garb.  The  profession  has  to  do  chiefly  with  two 
classes  of  persons — the  wronged  and  wrong-doers.  And  to 
deal  with  either,  as  their  confidential  adviser,  in  a  perfectly 
frank,  straight-forward,  and  kind  manner,  demands  a  stern 
and  lofty  virtue.  We  know  how  difficult  this  is  even  in 
private  life;  and  the  difficulty  must  be  greatly  increased 
where  the  parties  bear  to  each  other  the  relation  of  client 


15 

and  counsel.  Among  men  who  live  by  the  law,  who  look 
to  it  for  a  support  and  for  fame,  the  inducements  must 
be  very  strong  to  encourage  litigation.  It  has  always  been 
the  opprobrium  of  the  profession,  that  it  was  infested  by 
individuals  who  were  ready  on  all  occasions  to  pander  to 
the  basest  passions,  and  to  become  the  instruments  of  the 
avaricious,  the  revengeful,  and  the  hard-hearted  in  oppress- 
ing their  victims.  Such  men,  unhappily,  rarely  want  for 
clients.  For  the  race  described  by  Addison  is  not  yet 
extinct — a  race  of  whom  he  observes,  "the  law  of  the  land 
is  their  gospel,  and  all  their  cases  of  conscience  are  deter- 
mined by  their  attorney."  He  adds,  in  that  tone  of  quiet 
sarcasm,  so  peculiar  to  himself,  "  As  for  such  as  are  insen- 
sible of  the  concerns  of  others,  but  merely  as  they  affect 
themselves,  these  men  are  to  be  valued  only  for  their  mor- 
tality, and  as  we  hope  better  things  from  their  heirs."* 
And  this  is  just  the  principle  which  controls  the  sort  of 
lawyers  in  question.  It  is  neither  the  love  of  justice  nor 
any  real  regard  for  their  clients,  which  makes  them  the 
ready  abettors  of  litigation.  Their  employers,  in  many 
instances,  become  their  victims,  and  discover  too  late  the 
secret  of  their  pretended  zeal  for  their  wounded  honour  or 
damaged  fortunes. 

What  we  require  in  the  legal  profession,  is,  men  of  prin- 
ciple— men  whose  rule  of  conduct  shall  be,  not  the  conven- 
tional code  of  morals  which  may  happen  to  have  been 
adopted  by  their  caste,  but  the  law  of  God.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  individuals  ordinarily  come  to  you,  make 
it  a  matter  of  the  highest  moment,  that  they  should  be  able 

*  Spectator,  No.  456. 


16 

to  repose  entire  confidence  in  your  integrity,  your  discre- 
tion, and  I  may  add,  your  delicacy  of  feeling.  For  wliat 
are  these  circumstances?  They  come  to  you  smarting 
under  real  or  imaginary  wrongs,  and  burning  with  resent- 
ment— or  affrighted  at  the  thought  of  a  prosecution  they 
have  incurred  by  their  misconduct.  They  come  to  solicit 
your  assistance  in  despoiling  others  of  their  property,  or  in 
repelling  aggressions  upon  their  own — to  ask  you,  to  ex- 
haust the  penalties  of  the  law  in  wringing  the  "pound  of 
flesh"  from  an  unfortunate  debtor — to  protect  their  defence- 
less and  terrified  families  from  the  tyranny  of  the  great — to 
shield  them  from  the  tongue  of  the  defamer — to  help  them 
in  defrauding  their  creditors,  or  in  garnishing  their  rent 
and  blasted  characters.  These,  and  such  as  these,  are  the 
errands  on  which  men  invoke  your  aid.  They  come  when 
they  are  in  trouble — in  doubt — in  danger — when  they  are 
doing  wrong  or  suffering  Avrong — consumed  Avith  remorse  or 
on  fire  with  revenge — when  they  are  anxious  and  excited, 
and,  not  seldom,  incapable  of  acting  for  themselves.  What 
are  you  to  do  ?  Are  you  to  inflame  still  further  their  ex- 
cited feelings  by  expatiating  on  their  alleged  injuries  ?  Are 
you  to  pry  open  the  innermost  chambers  of  their  agitated 
bosoms,  that  you  may  afterwards  use  what  you  have  seen 
there  to  bend  them  to  your  sordid  purposes?  Are  you  to 
join  hands  with  them  in  their  schemes  of  detraction  and 
dishonesty  ?  Are  you  with  eager  haste  to  assure  them  that 
the  case  admits  of  no  compromise — that  the  law  will  award 
them  full  redress,  and  they  should  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
less?  Are  you  to  bring  the  cause  into  court,  and  employ 
all  the  arts  of  chicanery,  such  as  brow-beating  the  wit- 


17 

nesses,  misquoting  authorities,  perverting  the  testimony, 
and  appealing  to  the  baser  passions  or  the  political  preju- 
dices of  the  jury — to  conceal  the  merits  of  the  question  and 
secure  a  favourable  verdict?  This  surely  is  not  the  treat- 
ment your  clients  have  a  right  to  expect  from  you.  The 
law  has  made  you  our  advisers.  We  have  no  alternative 
when  we  are  in  trouble  but  to  come  to  you  ;  and  if  we  would 
perpetrate  a  wrong  under  colour  of  law,  we  can  do  it  only 
through  your  agency.  You  are  bound  then — bound  not 
merely  by  your  relations  to  us,  but  by  your  paramount 
obligations  to  society — to  deal  honestly  and  kindly  by  us. 
If  you  think  we  are  in  error  in  proposing  to  institute  a  suit, 
it  is  incumbent  on  you  to  tell  us  so.  If  you  believe  an 
equitable  compromise  can  be  effected,  you  should  suggest  it. 
If  you  perceive  that  we  have  made  no  estimate  of  the  con- 
tingent consequences  of  the  litigation  we  demand,  you 
should  point  them  out.  Instead  of  inflaming,  you  should 
endeavour  to  mollify  our  resentments.  Instead  of  advising 
us  as  we  may  wish  to  be  advised,  you  should  advise  us 
according  to  the  truth  and  equity  of  the  case.  When  we 
repair  to  you  in  the  first  instance,  it  is  as  counsellors,  not 
as  advocates.  And  it  is  none  the  less  your  duty  to  give  us 
faithful  counsel,  though  it  may  not  chime  in  with  our  hopes 
or  purposes.  If  a  surgeon  orders  an  amputation  where  his 
patient  expected  a  cataplasm,  he  discharges  his  conscience 
whether  the  patient  acquiesces  or  not.  And  when  we  come 
to  you  with  a  question  of  property,  liberty,  or  life,  we  have 
a  right  to  look  for  the  same  candour,  however  we  may  treat 
your  counsel. 

Should  you  take  up  the  cause,  whether  on  vour  own  con- 


18 

viction  or  from  our  solicitation,  it  is  no  less  due  to  us  and 
to  society,  that  you  should  conduct  it  throughout  in  a  fair 
and  honourable  manner.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  that  a 
lawyer  is  to  assume  the  functions  of  a  judge,  and  take  both 
parties  under  his  protection.  He  stands  before  the  court 
as  the  representative  of  one  of  the  parties,  and  he  is  bound 
to  omit  no  legitimate  means  which  may  promise  to  benefit 
his  client.  He  may  suggest  arguments  which  are  not  con- 
clusive to  his  own  mind:  the  court  will  allow  them  their 
due  weight.  He  may  seize  upon  technical  informalities  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  other  side.  He  may  avail  himself 
of  all  the  advantages  which  the  law  will  allow  him  for  vin- 
dicating his  client  and  baffling  his  opponent.  But  he  may 
not  bring  into  the  conduct  of  his  cause  a  malicious  or 
vindictive  spirit.  He  may  not  needlessly  blacken  the  cha- 
racter of  the  opposing  party.  He  must  not  impugn  the 
veracity  of  witnesses,  whose  only  fault  has  been  their 
modesty  or  their  timidity.  He  must  not  seek  to  carry  his 
cause  by  misrepresenting  the  facts,  or  by  poisoning  the 
minds  of  the  court  and  jury  against  the  antagonist  client 
on  personal  or  party  grounds,  aside  from  the  merits  of  the 
issue  on  trial.  These,  and  all  similar  expedients,  are 
incompatible  with  that  integrity  which  is  at  once  the  orna- 
ment of  the  Bar  and  the  safeguard  of  our  rights.  And 
they  will  disappear  just  in  proportion  as  our  courts  become 
transfused  with  the  purity  and  benignity  which  accompany 
a  cordial  reception  of  the  gospel. 

Occasions  not  unfrequently  arise  in  the  practice  of  the 
law,  which  call  for  a  high  degree  of  inoral  courage.  The 
most  ill-assorted  parties  appear  before  the  tribunals.     The 


19 

advocate  may  be  called  upon  to  espouse  the  cause  of  some 
obscure  woman  against  the  exactions  of  an  opulent  land- 
lord. He  may  be  required  to  enforce  the  law  against  an 
intractable  tenant  who  has  sought  to  elude  the  payment  of 
his  rent  by  raising  the  Agrarian  cry,  and  getting  others  to 
raise  it,  of  "oppression"  and  "persecution."  It  may 
become  his  duty  to  arraign  some  individual  of  eminent 
station,  who  has  depredated  upon  the  public  purse,  or 
employed  a  corporate  institution  for  swindling  purposes  on 
a  gigantic  scale,  with  the  expectation  that  wealth  and 
family  influence  would  shield  him  from  the  legal  penalties 
of  his  crimes.  He  may  be  obliged  to  undertake  the  defence 
of  a  person  who  has  made  himself  obnoxious  both  to  the 
government  and  the  people.  The  press  may  with  one  voice 
demand  his  condemnation.  The  populace,  unwilling  to 
await  the  slow  process  of  a  judicial  investigation,  may  be 
panting  to  wreak  their  vengeance  upon  him.  The  Bench 
itself  may  bend  before  the  whirlwind,  and  reveal  by  no 
ambiguous  auguries,  its  purpose  to  abandon  the  victim  to 
his  fate.  But  the  law  is  with  him;  and  the  blow  which 
smites  him  to  the  earth,  will  shatter  the  pillars  of  the  con- 
stitution. Shall  his  counsel  desert  him  ?  He  cannot  desert 
him.  His  own  professional  prospects,  the  very  bread  which 
is  to  keep  his  family  from  starvation,  may  be  imperilled 
with  his  client;  but  he  cannot  give  him  up.  To  his  eye  he 
is  the  very  impersonation  of  the  law.  The  oflSce  Provi- 
dence has  laid  upon  him,  is  not  so  much  the  vindication  of 
the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  as  the  protection  of  the  State.  He 
stands  there,  the  sponsor  of  that  helpless  man,  to  guard  the 
rights  of  thousands  of  citizens  who  sit  quietly  by  their  fire- 


20 

sides,  anxious  only  to  hear  that  the  jury  have  convicted 
him — nay,  to  defend  the  liberties  of  the  infuriated  multi- 
tude who  throng  the  avenues  of  the  court-room,  and  show 
by  their  looks  and  gestures  how  bitterly  they  resent  this 
effort  to  deprive  them  of  their  prey.  Whatever  may  be 
the  consequences  to  himself,  he  will  not  betray  his  client ; 
and  if  he  could  stoop  to  that  meanness,  he  would  still  have 
too  much  patriotism  not  to  shield  him,  if  possible,  from 
a  poignard's  thrust,  which  could  not  reach  him  without 
piercing  the  vitals  of  his  country. 

It  would  be  claiming  too  much  for  religion  to  affirm  that 
this  high  moral  courage  can  exist  only  in  connexion  with 
personal  piety.  Examples  to  the  contrary  would  instantly 
occur  to  the  minds  of  my  legal  auditors.  Among  these,  the 
name  of  Lord  Erskine  would  certainly  be  conspicuous. 
Every  lawyer  must  be  familiar  with  the  maiden  speech 
of  this  great  orator ;  that  speech  which  brought  thirty 
briefs  into  his  hands  before  he  left  Westminster  Hall, 
and  which  his  noble  biographer  characterizes  as  "the  most 
wonderful  forensic  effort"  of  which  there  is  any  account  in 
the  British  annals.  "It  was  the  dthut  (he  adds)  of  a 
barrister  just  called  and  wholly  unpractised  in  public 
speaking — before  a  court  crowded  with  the  men  of  the 
greatest  distinction,  belonging  to  all  parties  in  the  State. 
He  came  after  four  eminent  counsel,  who  might  be  sup- 
posed to  have  exhausted  the  subject.  He  was  called  to 
order  by  a  venerable  judge,  whose  word  had  been  law  in 
that  Hall  above  a  quarter  of  a  century.  His  exclamation 
[when  Lord  Mansfield  told  him  that  Lord  Sandwich,  whose 
name  he  had  introduced,  'was  not  before  the  court,']  'I 


21 

will  bring  him  before  tlie  Court,'  and  the  crushing  denun- 
ciation of  Lord  Sandwich,  in  which  he  was  enabled  to  per- 
severe, from  the  sympathy  of  the  by-standers,  and  even  of 
the  judges,  who  in  strictness  ought  again  to  have  checked 
his  irregularity — are  as  soul-stirring  as  any  thing  in  this 
species  of  eloquence  presented  to  us  by  ancient  or  modern 
times,"  * 

In  so  far  as  strictly  forensic  efforts  are  concerned,  this 
last  remark  may  be  allowed  to  pass ;  but  Lord  Campbell 
might  find  examples  of  still  greater  intrepidity  in  a  volume 
with  which  he  must  be  very  conversant.  One  of  these,  is 
the  case  of  the  three  Jews  at  the  court  of  Nebuchadnezzar. 
The  king  summoned  them  before  him  and  commanded  them 
to  worship  the  image  he  had  set  up,  or  be  cast  into  a  burn- 
ing fiery  furnace.  This  was  a  question  of  life  or  death ; 
and  they  must  decide  it  without  hope  of  fame  or  fortune — 
without  the  support  derived  from  the  sympathy  of  a 
crowded  court-room,  or  the  ill-concealed  admiration  of  the 
Bench  itself — from  the  plaudits  of  a  powerful  press  or  the 
prospect  of  professional  honours — in  a  word,  without  any  of 
those  collateral  but  invaluable  aids  which  sustained  Erskine 
in  his  sublime  effort.  And  what  was  their  decision? 
It  ran  thus,  in  words  of  quiet  strength  and  majesty  which 
even  at  this  distance  of  time  cannot  be  read  by  any  one 
who  is  susceptible  of  admiration,  without  deep  emotion. 
"  0  Nebuchadnezzar,  we  are  not  careful  to  answer  thee  in 
this  matter.  If  it  be  so,  our  God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to 
deliver  us  from  the  burning  fiery  furnace,  and  he  will 
deliver  us   out  of  thine  hand,   0  king.     But  if  not,  be  it 

*  Lord  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors. 
4 


22 

known  unto  thee,  0  Idng,  that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods, 
nor  worship  the  golden  image  which  thou  hast  set  up." 
(Dan.  iii.  16-18.)  This  was  the  courage  inspired  by  faith. 
To  comment  on  it,  would  be  but  a  poor  compliment  to  my 
hearers. 

There  is  a  kindred  example  in  the  New  Testament — a 
forensic  example — on  a  theatre  no  less  august  in  Judea, 
than  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  is  in  England.  I  refer  to 
the  speech  of  the  Apostle  Peter  before  the  great  Sanhe- 
drim, that  memorable  scene  in  which  the  parties  exchanged 
places,  and  the  prisoner,  arraigning  his  judges,  brought 
home  to  them,  in  a  few  words  of  eloquent  and  withering 
rebuke,  the  most  flagrant  of  all  crimes,  the  murder  of  their 
Messiah.  (Acts  iv.  5-12.)  This  again  was  the  intrepidity 
inspired  by  true  religion.  For  no  longer  before  than  the 
evening  prior  to  the  crucifixion,  this  same  Peter,  who  now 
stood  up  before  the  high  priest  and  rulers  of  the  Jews,  and 
charged  them  with  this  atrocious  wickedness,  had  himself 
denied  his  Master  with  cursing  and  oaths.  So  mighty  was 
the  transformation  which  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  had 
wrought  in  this  ardent  and  affectionate  but  hitherto  timid 
disciple.  And  a  similar  change  is  gradually  effected  in  the 
characters  of  all  who  experience  the  renewing  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Religion  may  not  at  once  convert  every 
lion  into  a  lamb,  nor  every  lamb  into  a  lion ;  but  it  is  the 
true  nurse  as  well  of  courage  as  of  meekness.  The  fear  of 
God  is  the  best  antidote  to  the  fear  of  man.  And  in  pro- 
portion as  the  legal  profession  becomes  pervaded  with  this 
principle,  will  it  be  adorned  with  exhibitions  of  genuine 
heroism,  like  those  we  have  been  contemplating. 


23 

Some  allusion  has  been  made  to  the  temptations  "which 
beset  the  path  of  the  advocate.  The  annals  of  almost 
every  Bar  will  bear  melancholy  attestation  to  the  dangers 
to  which  the  profession  is  exposed  from  this  source.  It 
would  be  quite  pertinent  to  the  present  discussion,  to  show 
that  religion  offers  the  only  effectual  shield  against  these 
dangers;  that  a  firm  faith  is  the  best  of  all  equipments  to 
protect  the  members  of  the  profession  from  those  entice- 
ments to  dissipation,  and  the  more  subtle  enticements  to 
dishonesty,  which  have  proved  fatal  to  so  many  of  their 
brethren.  But  I  have  already  trespassed  too  long  upon 
your  patience,  and  must  waive  this  topic,  with  several 
others  no  less  worthy  of  attention. 

My  object  has  been  to  show  the  great  value  of  personal 
religion,  its  professional  value,  so  to  speak,  in  the  practice 
of  the  law.  It  is  not  denied  that  examples  may  be  found 
at  the  Bar,  of  eminent  moral  worth  and  distinguished 
success,  dissociated  from  real  piety.  But  it  is  contended 
that  even  in  cases  of  this  sort,  religion  would  impart  an 
additional  lustre  to  the  character;  while  its  influence,  if  dif- 
fused throughout  the  body,  would  be  most  advantageously 
felt  in  removing  the  prevalent  vices  and  defects  of  the  pro- 
fession, and  augmenting  all  those  virtues  which  make  it  one 
of  the  chief  supports  and  ornaments  of  a  refined  civilization. 
What  the  profession  would  be  if  it  were  consecrated  by  the 
pervading  power  of  a  vital  Christianity,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  instances  occasionally  presented,  of  men  who  com- 
bine the  noblest  intellectual  gifts,  the  most  accurate  and 
profound  knowledge  of  jurisprudence,  rhetorical  abilities 
of   a  high  order,  the    purest  affections,  and  the  greatest 


24 

amenity  of  manners,  with    an   culiglitencd  and    unosten- 
tatious piety. 

Such  an  example  of  the  theme  on  ■which  we  have  been 
meditating,  has  been  before  the  eyes  of  the  Philadelphia 
Bar  for  the  last  half  century.  Amidst  the  tears  of  the  pro- 
fession and  the  regrets  of  this  whole  community,  death  has 
lately  set  his  irreversible  seal  upon  it.  The  incorruptible 
virtue,  the  radiant  example,  the  untarnished  fame,  of 
Charles  Chavxcey,  have  become  part  of  the  moral  trea- 
sure of  his  country.  It  is  not  for  me  to  pronounce  his 
eulogy:  that  can  be  done  only  by  one  of  his  peers.  But 
where  providence  and  grace  conspire  to  form  a  character  of 
so  much  excellence,  it  is  due  no  less  to  the  munificent  Being 
■who  made  him  what  he  was,  than  to  the  profession  he 
adorned,  that  some  of  his  moral  qualities  should  be  held  up, 
even  though  in  a  transient  and  imperfect  way,  to  the  study 
and  imitation  of  his  junior  brethren.  More  than  this  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  do.  I  leave  it  for  others  to  sketch  his 
intellectual  attributes  and  his  legal  acquii-ements :  my  office 
is  to  speak  of  him,  and  that  briefly,  as  a  CJin'stian. 

The  prime  quality  in  Mr.  Chauncey's  character,  was  his 
integrity.  This  is  as  much  associated  with  his  name, 
wherever  he  was  known,  as  justice  is  with  that  of  Aristides. 
It  is  impossible  to  speak  of  him  without  thinking  of  it :  as 
it  was  impossible  to  converse  with  him  without  feeling  that 
you  had  to  do  with  a  man  of  inflexible  probity.  If  there 
are  men  who  are  honest  from  policy  or  interest— who  are 
honest  in  great  matters  but  lax  in  small  matters — whose 
perceptions  of  right  and  wrong  are  quick  and  accm'ate  on 


25 

questions  affecting  other  people's  affairs,  but  misty  and 
obtuse  where  self  is  concerned — he  was  not  one  of  them. 
He  was  upright  on  principle,  and  from  preference.  The 
love  of  truth  and  right  was  part  of  his  being.  He  could 
not  have  been  divested  of  it  without  destroying  his  identity. 
He  carried  it,  therefore,  into  every  relation  and  circum- 
stance of  life.  It  controlled  his  most  trivial  pecuniary 
transactions;  it  presided  over  every  scene  of  social  enjoy- 
ment, even  those  in  which  he  gave  full  play  to  his  refined 
and  ardent  affections ;  it  breathed  through  every  sentence 
he  uttered  at  the  bar,  whether  in  one  of  those  luminous  and 
eloquent  arguments  with  which  he  often  captivated  the 
court  and  jury,  or  in  those  incidental  passages  between 
opposing  counsel — the  by-play  of  a  trial — in  which  truth- 
ful men  sometimes  exceed  the  limits  of  sober  verity.  His 
clients  knew  that  the  advice  he  gave  them,  was  given  in  all 
sincerity  and  was  designed  for  their  good,  however  counter 
it  might  be  to  their  wishes.  The  bench  and  the  jury  knew 
that  they  were  listening  to  a  man  who  was  a  stranger  to 
deception  and  finesse — a  man  who,  though  liable,  like  all 
other  men,  to -err,  could  not  act  a  part — who,  when  he 
spoke,  uttered  his  real  convictions,  and  believed  what  he 
was  trying  to  make  them  believe.  There  have  been  law- 
yers whose  professional  has  been  as  distinct  from  their 
personal  character,  as  the  wig  and  gown  of  an  English 
barrister  from  the  barrister  himself;  and  courts  and  juries 
have  instinctively,  when  they  rose  to  speak,  recognized 
their  two-fold  nature.  But  they  never  mistook  Mr.  Chaun- 
cey  for  one  of  this  hybrid  race.  In  him  the  union  between 
the  advocate  and  the  man  was  not,  as  in  the  other  case,  a 


26 

mere  mechanical  conjunction,  like  that  which  held  together 
the  different  parts  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  but  a  che- 
mical combination — an  intermixture  of  the  elements  of  the 
one  with  the  elements  of  the  other.  His  speeches,  there- 
fore, carried  with  them  all  the  weight  of  personal  convic- 
tion— and  that,  in  the  case  of  a  man  so  eminent  as  well  for 
his  ability  and  his  wisdom  as  for  his  integrity,  was  often 
more  than  half  the  battle. 

It  were  well  for  the  younger  men  in  the  profession,  to 
consider  the  great  value  of  such  a  reputation  for  integrity, 
simply  as  a  means  of  success.  They  may  gain  an  occasional 
triumph  by  deviating  from  the  line  of  strict  rectitude;  and 
the  prospect  of  winning  an  important  cause,  may  seduce 
them  into  the  use  of  unfair  weapons.  But  a  few  victories 
achieved  in  this  way  will  ruin,  or  at  least  seriously  injure, 
them.  To  a  young  lawyer,  character  is  every  thing.  It 
is  character,  not  learning,  not  astuteness,  not  eloquence, 
which  is  the  basis  of  confidence:  and  "confidence,"  espe- 
cially the  confidence  of  clients  and  judges  and  juries,  is  "a 
plant  of  slow  growth."  It  is  a  sensitive  plant  too:  its 
leaves  will  begin  to  curl  and  wither  with  the  first  rude 
breath  of  deceit  and  equivocation.  The  youthful  advocate, 
flushed  with  an  ill-gotten  triumph,  little  divines  what  an 
impression  he  has  made  on  that  stern  jurist  on  the  bench, 
and  even  upon  these  emulous  associates  who  throng  around 
him  with  their  congratulations.  They  may  well  congratu- 
late a  rival  whose  ovation,  like  those  the  Venetians  used  to 
accord  to  their  heroes,  is  the  pledge  of  his  early  downfall. 
Let  those  who  stand  on  the  threshold  of  this  noble  profes- 
sion, learn  from  the  example  of  that  eminent,  man  whose 


27 

loss  we  now  deplore,  that  virtue  is  the  highest  wisdom — that 
virtue,  especially,  which  has  God  for  its  author  and  end,  the 
word  of  God  for  its  rule  of  duty,  and  the  love  of  God  for  its 
animating  principle.  In  this  divine  endowment,  they  may 
see  one  of  the  chief  implements  of  his  success.  He  has 
vindicated  the  profession  from  the  vulgar  cavil,  that  no 
strictly  honest  man  can  be  a  lawyer ;  and  shown  that  the 
Bar  forms  no  exception  to  the  rule,  that  the  path  of  virtue 
is  the  path  to  honour.  In  some  pregnant  crisis  of  your 
history,  when  temptation  proflfers  you  its  golden  fruit, 

"Fair  to  the  eye,  inviting  to  tlie  taste," 

and  you  are  just  saying  to  yourselves, 

"  What  hinders  then 


"  To  reach,  and  feed  at  once  both  body  and  mind  ?" 

it  may  recover  you  from  your  perilous  position,  to  recall 
the  name  of  one  who  maintained  an  unspotted  reputation 
amidst  the  conflicts  and  enticements  of  the  Bar  for  up- 
wards of  fifty  years,  and  whose  pure  fame  is  unsullied  by  a 
single  mean  or  dishonourable  action. 

Mr.  Chauncey  was  no  less  distinguished  for  his  benevo- 
lence than  his  integrity.  I  do  not  allude  in  this  remark 
merely  to  the  charity  which  goes  out  in  alms-giving,  or  in 
contributions  to  ecclesiastical  and  religious  objects.  This, 
when  prompted  by  right  motives,  is  a  charity  of  high  esteem 
in  the  sight  of  God:  indeed,  our  Saviour  teaches  us  that  if 
we  are  destitute  of  it,  we  may  scarcely  presume  to  think  we 
are  Christians.  But  the  benevolence  of  Mr.  Chauncey  in- 
cluded a  great  deal  more  than  this.  He  was  essentially  an 
unselfish  man.     He  had  a  heart  as  well  as  a  head.     And 


28 

his  heart  was  hirge  enough  to  take  in  some  others  besides 
his  own  family  and  immediate  friends.  He  was  always 
ready  to  employ  his  great  powers  for  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
the  injured,  the  helpless ;  to  extend  to  them  "the  charity  of 
time,  labour,  and  attention;  the  protection  of  those  whose 
resources  are  feeble,  and  the  information  of  those  whose 
knowledge  is  small."  This  was  so  well  understood,  that 
there  was  probably  no  man  in  this  community  who  was  so 
much  resorted  to  for  counsel.  He  was  so  wise,  so  candid, 
so  kind,  and  entered  so  readily  into  the  circumstances  and 
feelings  of  his  clients,  that  people  of  all  descriptions  sought 
his  advice  on  all  sorts  of  subjects.  Who  that  has  entered 
his  ante-room  during  his  office-hours,  has  not  been  struck 
with  the  variety  of  characters  assembled  there  to  solicit  his 
aid.  Distinguished  counsellors,  young  lawyers,  and  possibly 
grave  judges,  with  their  vexed  questions,  capitalists  seeking 
investments,  embarrassed  merchants,  guardians  perplexed 
to  know  what  to  do  with  their  wards,  parents  to  consult  him 
about  their  children,  widows  anxious  to  secure  their  little 
property,  together  with  suitors  of  various  kinds — such  were 
the  groups  that  not  unfrequently  met  at  his  levees.  And 
they  went  there  because  they  knew  they  could  confide  to 
him  domestic  matters  which  they  would  scarcely  breathe 
into  the  ear  of  another  human  being;  and  that  when  they 
had  stated  their  case  to  him,  he  would  give  them  judicious 
advice  made  doubly  acceptable  by  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  given.  He  might,  without  presumption,  have  appropria- 
ted the  language  of  Job  :  "When  the  ear  heard  me,  then  it 
blessed  me ;  and  when  the  eye  saw  me,  it  gave  witness  to 
me.      Because  I  delivered  the   poor  that  cried,   and  the 


29 

fatherless,  and  him  that  had  none  to  help  him.  The  bless- 
ing of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came  upon  me ;  and  I 
caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy.  I  put  on  right- 
eousness, and  it  clothed  me:  my  judgment  was  as  a  robe 
and  a  diadem.  I  was  eyes  to  the  blind,  and  feet  was  I  to 
the  lame.  I  was  a  father  to  the  poor ;  and  the  cause  which 
I  knew  not  I  searched  out.  And  I  brake  the  jaws  of  the 
wicked,  and  I  plucked  the  spoil  out  of  his  teeth."  Among 
all  the  monumental  memorials  which  grace  our  cemeteries, 
there  is  not  one  which  might  with  more  propriety  receive 
these  words  as  its  epitaph,  than  the  tomb  of  Charles 
Chauncey. 

Mr.  Chauncey's  manners,  it  has  been  intimated,  partook 
of  the  kindness  of  his  nature.  Instead  of  that  hauteur  and 
reserve  which  great  men  sometimes  assume,  and  which 
make  them  appear  greater  than  they  are,  like  objects  seen 
through  a  mist,  his  manners  presented  a  felicitous  combina- 
tion of  dignity  and  ease,  with  simplicity  and  benevolence. 
In  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  the  genial  warmth  of  his  affec- 
tions and  his  earnest  sympathy  with  suffering  humanity,  he 
closely  resembled  that  illustrious  man.  Dr.  Chalmers.  For 
so  free  was  this  great  philosopher  and  divine  from  ostenta- 
tion and  assumption — so  perfectly  accessible — so  prompt  t(> 
enter  with  an  unaffected  interest  into  the  topics  of  the  pass- 
ing hour — that  his  guest  might,  for  the  time,  almost  forget 
his  greatness  in  his  goodness.  Am  I  wrong  in  the  conjec- 
ture, that  many  a  man  who  has  hesitatingly  approached 
Mr.  Chauncey  as  a  counsellor,  has  been  made  to  feel  during 
their  first  interview,  that  his  counsellor  was  no  less  his 
friend?  "If  a  man,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "be  gracious  and 
5 


30 

courteous  to  strangers,  it  shows  he  is  a  citizen  of  the  world, 
and  that  his  heart  is  no  island  cut  off  from  other  lands,  but 
a  continent  that  joins  to  them:  if  he  be  compassionate 
towards  the  afflictions  of  others,  it  shows  that  his  heart  is 
like  the  noble  tree  that  is  wounded  itself  when  it  gives  the 
balm :  if  he  easily  pardons  and  remits  offences,  it  shows  that 
his  mind  is  planted  above  injuries,  so  that  he  cannot  be 
shot."  These  were  marked  traits  in  the  character  of  our 
revered  friend.  And  you  will  justify  me  in  appropriating 
to  him  the  beautiful  sketch  Mr.  Addison  has  drawn  of  a 
great  light*  of  the  English  law.  "His  life  was,  in  every 
part  of  it,  set  off  with  that  graceful  modesty  and  reserve, 
which  made  his  virtues  more  beautiful  the  more  they  were 
cast  in  such  agreeable  shades.  His  great  humanity  ap- 
peared in  the  minutest  circumstances  of  his  conversation. 
You  found  it  in  the  benevolence  of  his  aspect,  the  com- 
placency of  his  behaviour,  and  the  tone  of  his  voice.  His 
great  application  to  the  severer  studies  of  the  law  had  not 
infected  his  temper  with  anything  positive  or  litigious ;  he 
did  not  know  what  it  was  to  wrangle  on  indifferent  points, 
to  triumph  in  the  superiority  of  his  understanding,  or  to  be 
supercilious  on  the  side  of  truth.  He  joined  the  greatest 
delicacy  of  good  breeding,  to  the  greatest  strength  of 
reason.  By  improving  the  sentiments  of  a  person  with 
whom  he  conversed,  in  such  particulars  as  were  just,  he 
won  him  over  from  those  points  in  which  he  was  mistaken; 
and  had  so  agreeable  a  way  of  conveying  knowledge,  that 
w^hoever  conferred  with  him  grew  the  wiser,  without  per- 
ceiving that  he  had  been  instructed.     His  principles  were 

*  Lord  Somers, 


31 

founded  in  reason  and  supported  by  virtue,  and  therefore 
did  not  lie  at  the  mercy  of  ambition,  avarice,  or  resent- 
ment." 

It  has  been  intimated  that  no  portraiture  would  be  at- 
tempted, in  the  present  service,  of  Mr.  Chauncey's  public 
or  private  life,  I  may  be  allowed  to  pause  for  a  moment, 
before  concluding  this  very  imperfect  notice  of  some  of  his 
prominent  virtues,  to  remark  on  one  or  two  features  of  his 
professional  career.  He  abstained  from  taking  an  active 
part  in  politics;  and  with  a  single  exception,  that  of  his  con- 
sentincr  to  sit  as  a  member  of  the  Convention  for  revising 
the  Constitution  of  this  State,  he  uniformly  declined  pub- 
lic office.  It  would  certainly  be  unfortunate  for  the  coun- 
try if  all  our  ablest  lawyers  should  adopt  the  same  line  of 
conduct.  But  the  example  may  suggest  a  wholesome  lesson 
to  the  junior  portion  of  the  Bar.  Xo  man  can  expect  to  be- 
come an  eminent  lawyer,  who  does  not,  for  at  least  a  score 
of  years  or  more,  confine  himself  rigidly  to  his  profession. 
The  temptation  to  embark  in  politics  is  very  great,  espe- 
cially under  a  government  like  ours;  and  it  has  proved 
fatal  to  the  hopes  of  many  a  young  lawyer  of  brilliant 
talents.  The  rewards  of  jurisprudence,  like  the  choicest 
crystals  of  the  Alps,  are  too  remote  and  too  difficult  of 
access,  to  be  secured  by  any  precarious  and  inconstant 
exertions.  The  path  which  leads  to  them  is  narrow  and 
rugged,  obstructed  with  rocks  and  exposed  to  avalanches : 
and  he  who  suflFers  himself  to  be  intimidated  by  dangers,  or 
diverted  into  by-paths  in  quest  of  flowers,  must  make  up  his 
mind  to  relinquish  the  jewels  to  his  competitors. — This  sub- 


32 

ject  is  too  large  to  be  discussed  here;  but  I  could  not 
refrain  from  making  a  brief  allusion  to  it. 

The  only  other  topic  to  which  I  shall  advert  in  this  con- 
nection, is,  Mr.  Chauncey's  respect  for  the  Sabbath.  To 
his  eye,  the  Sabbath  bore  the  King's  image  and  superscrip- 
tion :  and  he  had  no  sympathy  either  with  the  presumption 
which  would  seize  upon  "the  Lord's  day"  and  appropriate 
it  to  private  ends,  or  with  the  mock  loyalty  which  glories  in 
rendering  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  while  it 
denies  to  God  the  things  that  are  God's.  Accepting  in  its 
just  import  that  much-abused  saying  of  our  Saviour's,  "the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man,"  with  his  characteristic  reve- 
rence for  law,  he  studiously  consecrated  it  to  the  purposes 
prescribed  by  its  beneficent  Donor — to  the  concerns  of  the 
soul,  and  the  sublime  realities  of  the  life  which  awaits  us 
beyond  the  grave.  And  to  these  well-spent  Sabbaths  we 
must  look  for  many  of  the  influences  which  contributed  to 
mould  as  well  his  intellectual  and  social,  as  his  elevated 
moral  character. 

The  example  is  instructive.  There  is  no  need  of  assu- 
ming— it  would  be  discourteous  and  unjust  to  assume — that 
the  Bar  stands  in  special  need  of  admonition  on  this  subject. 
But  neither  will  it  be  claimed  that  the  Bar  is  quite  guiltless 
of  that  disposition  to  secularize  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
which  has  infected  all  other  professions.  The  temptation 
to  do  this,  constitutes,  in  fact,  one  of  the  chief  snares  to 
which  the  members  of  the  profession  are  exposed.  Could 
the  truth  be  revealed,  it  might  be  found  that  no  inconside- 
rable portion  of  our  able  and  rising  lawyers  were  more  or 


33 

less  in  the  habit  of  appropriating  a  part  of  the  Sabbath  to 
the  study  and  arrangement  of  their  cases.  They  forget 
that  there  is  a  law  in  existence  paramount  to  all  earthly 
legislation:  nor  are  they  struck  with  the  incongruity 
of  preparing  themselves  to  expound  and  enforce  human 
statutes,  by  treading  under  foot  the  law  of  God.  The  per- 
nicious consequences  which  flow  from  this  practice,  are 
manifold.  It  weakens  the  moral  sense.  No  man  can 
habitually  or  frequently  set  at  nought  a  Divine  ordinance, 
without  blunting  his  conscience  and  impairing  his  reverence 
for  the  authority  of  God.  He  who  begins  by  taking  half 
the  Sabbath  for  his  professional  business,  will  be  likely  in 
the  end  to  take  the  whole.  And  how  is  it  possible  for  an 
individual  to  treat  one  item  of  the  decalogue  as  a  nullity, 
without  lessening  his  respect  for  all  its  other  provisions, 
and  indeed  for  the  whole  religious  system  of  which  the  two 
tables  are  the  moral  code?  "Whosoever  shall  keep  the 
whole  law,  and  yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all." 
For  the  law,  though  presented  to  us  in  distinct  categories,  is 
essentially  one;  and  to  violate  any  part  of  it,  is  really  to 
violate  the  whole,  just  as  he  breaks  a  large  mirror  who 
only  throws  a  pebble  through  one  corner  of  it.  The  wilful 
breach  of  any  single  provision,  involves,  also,  a  contempt 
for  that  authority  on  which  the  entire  law  rests.  And  it 
moreover  indicates  a  disposition  which,  under  like  provoca- 
tion, would  set  at  nought  any  other  of  its  enactments. 

The  practice  in  question,  removes  a  man  from  all  the 
wholesome  influences  of  the  sanctuary.  But  not  to  dwell 
on  the  peril  in  which  the  neglect  of  the  house  of  God  puts 
the  salvation  of  the  soul,  we  can  none  of  us  afford  to  dis- 


34 

pense  with  the  collateral  benefits  which  flow  from  the  due 
observance  of  the  Sabbath.  If  any  confidence  is  to  be 
placed  in  the  opinion  of  eminent  physiologists,  the  Sabbath 
law,  though  a  positive  institute,  has  its  foundation  in  the 
nature  of  man.  It  is  no  arbitrary  decree,  but  an  ordinance 
indispensable  to  the  proper  culture  and  developement  of  his 
physical  and  mental  powers,  and  to  his  social  happiness. 
The  tendency  of  an  uninterrupted  devotion  to  earthly  pur- 
suits, is,  to  debase  the  character  and  to  induce  premature 
exhaustion  and  decay.  The  Sabbath  comes  to  us,  as  an 
angel  of  mercy,  to  withdraw  us,  at  stated  intervals,  from 
the  secularities  with  which  we  are  engrossed — to  recruit 
our  wearied  frames — to  let  in  upon  our  souls  and  upon  our 
concerns  the  light  of  eternity — to  revive  our  fading  im- 
pressions of  spiritual  objects — to  bring  us  into  communion 
with  the  Father  of  our  spirits — and  to  remind  us  of  what 
we  are  so  prone  to  forget,  that 

"  'Tis  not  the  whole  of  life  to  live, 
Nor  all  of  death  to  die." 

The  appeal  might  be  safely  made  to  gentlemen  who  have 
long  stood  in  the  very  front  rank  at  our  own  Bar,  Avhether 
they  have  not  derived  the  greatest  advantages  from  the 
tranquilizing  and  refreshing  influence  of  the  Sabbath,  in 
seasons  when  they  have  been  well  nigh  overwhelmed  with 
the  pressure  of  their  business.  And  all  experience  shows 
how  keenly  nature  resents  any  attempt  to  despoil  her  of 
that  periodic  rest  which  is  her  inalienable  birthright. 
There  are  doubtless  exceptions,  but  it  will  generally  be 
found  that  lawyers  who    devote  the  whole   seven  days  to 


35 

business,  pay  the  penalty  of  their  error,  either  in  a  loss  of 
health  or  in  falling  a  prey  to  vicious  indulgences.     The 
overtasked  constitution  gives  way  under  a  load  it  was  never 
designed  to  bear.     Their  recuperative  energies  are  para- 
lysed.    Physical  debility  is  followed  by  mental  depression. 
The  nervous  system  acquires  a  morbid  sensitiveness;  and 
men  of  a  serene  and  amiable  temper  and  bland  address, 
become  irritable,  harsh,  and  repulsive.     Not  unfrequently, 
stimulating    drinks  are  invoked    to   inspire  the    strength 
demanded  by  urgent  professional  duties ;    and  by  degrees, 
the  occasional   expedient   becomes  a  daily  necessity,  and 
the  victim  hastens  with  accelerated  pace  to  a  dishonour- 
ed grave.      In  other  instances,  the  nerves  become    more 
and  more  disordered  until  reason  is  dethroned;    and  the 
once  gifted  advocate  only  lives  to  excite  the  pity  of  the 
Bar  he  adorned,  or  awakens  their  profounder  sorrow  by 
his  suicidal  death.      You    will   not    require    illustrations. 
The   wrecks    are    scattered   all   along  the  shore  you  are 
coasting:   and  even  those  who  have  but  just  cleared  the 
port   and   spread   their    sails   to   the    breeze,   may    deem 
themselves    happy   if    they   have    not   come    in   sight   of 
some   of  them.     If  I  should  select  a   single  example,  it 
would    be    that   of    an   English   barrister,    the   splendour 
of  whose  forensic   abilities  was   enhanced  by  his   private 
virtues — I  mean.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly.     My  legal  auditors 
are  of   course  familiar  with    the  history  of  this  eminent 
person  and  with  his  disastrous  end.     It  was  the  opinion  of 
his  illustrious  contemporary  and  friend,  Mr.  AVilberforce, 
that  the  fit  of  insanity  in  Avhich   he  terminated   his   life, 


36 

though  immediately  owing  to  a  sad  domestic  bereavement, 
•was  remotely  induced  by  his  uninterrupted  devotion  to  busi- 
ness, without  allowing  himself  even  the  repose  of  the  Sab- 
bath. In  writing  to  a  friend,  he  says,  "I  am  strongly  im- 
pressed by  the  recollection  of  your  endeavour  to  prevail  upon 
the  lawyers  to  give  up  Sunday  consultations,  in  which  poor 
Romilly  would  not  concur."  Four  years  after  his  death, 
Lord  Castlereagh  came  to  the  same  untimely  end.  When 
"VVilberforce  heard  of  it,  he  exclaimed,  "Poor  fellow!  he 
was  certainly  deranged — the  effect,  probably,  of  continued 
wear  of  mind.  The  strong  impression  on  my  mind  is,  that 
it  is  the  effect  of  the  non-observance  of  the  Sabbath ;  both 
as  to  abstracting  from  politics  and  from  the  constant  recur- 
ring of  the  same  reflections,  and  as  correcting  the  false 
views  of  worldly  things,  and  bringing  them  down  to  their 
true  diminutiveness."  "It  is  curious  to  hear  the  news- 
papers speaking  of  incessant  application  to  business ;  for- 
getting that  by  the  weekly  admission  of  a  day  of  rest 
which  our  Maker  has  enjoined,  our  faculties  would  be  pre- 
served from  the  effect  of  this  constant  strain."  Being 
again  reminded  by  the  death  of  Castlereagh,  of  Sir  Samuel 
Romilly,  he  said  "If  he  had  suffered  his  mind  to  enjoy  such 
occasional  remission,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  strings 
of  life  would  never  have  snapped  from  over-tension." 

Let  me  dismiss  this  topic  by  quoting  the  testimony  of 
one  whose  name  has  never  been  mentioned  but  with  venera- 
tion, in  either  hemisphere — Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale.  "  I 
have  found  by  a  strict  and  diligent  observation,  that  a  due 
observance  of  the  duty  of  this  day,  [Sunday]  hath    ever 


37 

had  joined  to  it  a  blessing  upon  the  rest  of  my  time ;  and 
the  week  that  hath  been  so  begun,  hath  been  blessed  and 
prosperous  to  me ;  and,  on  the  other  side,  when  I  have 
been  negligent  of  the  duties  of  this  day,  the  rest  of  the 
week  has  been  unsuccessful  and  unhappy  to  my  own  secular 
employments ;  so  that  I  could  easily  make  an  estimate  of 
my  successes  in  my  own  secular  employments  the  week 
following,  by  the  manner  of  my  passing  this  day :  and  this 
I  do  not  write  lightly  or  inconsiderately,  but  upon  a  long 
and  sound  observation  and  experience." 

It  has  been  implied  in  every  line  of  this  sketch,  that  Mr. 
Chauncey  was  a  sincere  and  decided  Christian.  He  not 
only  received  the  Bible  as  a  divine  revelation,  but  embraced 
its  doctrines  with  a  cordial  faith,  and  made  its  precepts  the 
rule  of  his  conduct.  Deeply  persuaded  of  his  own  partici- 
pation in  the  common  ruin  of  the  race,  and  of  the  insuflfi- 
ciency  of  any  works  or  sacrifices  of  his  own  to  propitiate  a 
holy  God,  he  sought  salvation  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  and  made  the  righteousness  of  Christ  the  sole 
ground  of  his  hope  of  pardon  and  eternal  life.*  His  piety 
was  equally  removed  from  the  spurious  liberality  which 
homologates  all  creeds  and  sects,  and  the  bigotry  which 
confounds  the  door  of  its  own  narrow  pale,  with  the  only 
door  that  leads  into  the  fold  of  Christ.  It  pervaded  every 
part  of  his  character,  and  had  much  to  do  in  forming  him 
to  that  wonderful  symmetry — that  harmony  of  all  the 
powers  and  susceptibilities  of  his  nature — which  made  him 

*  Mr.  Chauncey  was  a  member  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  in 
this  city. 
6 


38 

so  compJH(\  I  liad  almost  said,  in  the  Inngunge  of  the  text, 
so  "perfect"  a  man.  It  revealed  itself  not  so  much  in  a 
specific  substantive  form,  as  by  its  influence  upon  the  Avhole 
man ;  like  a  light  behind  a  beautiful  transparency  which, 
unseen  itself,  ilkiminates  every  line  of  the  artist's  cunning 
handiwork.  It  might  be  detected  in  his  temper,  his  con- 
duct, his  manners,  in  all  that  he  did,  and  in  all  that  he 
said.  No  trumpet  nor  phylactery  was  needed  to  announce 
its  presence:  his  serene  and  venerable  aspect,  his  suavity, 
his  cheerfulness,  his  overflowing  kindness,  his  prompt  and 
generous  interest  in  others'  wants  and  sorrows,  and  the 
whole  tone  of  his  conversation,  whether  on  public  aff"airs  or 
matters  of  personal  concern — all  betrayed  the  commerce 
of  his  soul  with  heaven,  and  awakened  the  feeling,  "  Thou 
also  wast  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 

This  great  and  good  man  has  gone  to  his  reward.  Full 
of  years  and  full  of  honours,  in  the  maturity  of  all  his 
powers  and  without  any  exhibition  of  human  infirmity,  he 
has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers.  Life's  work  was  done, 
and  well  done;  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  he  has  received 
that  crown  of  righteousness  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
Judge,  will  give  to  all  them  that  love  his  appearing. 

I  may  not  invade  the  sanctity  of  the  domestic  circle,  to 
speak  of  the  void  his  death  has  caused  there.  The  time 
forbids  me  to  enlarge  on  the  public  loss  we  have  ex- 
perienced as  a  community.  The  legal  profession  have 
shown  that  they  were  not  insensible  to  the  greatness  of 
their  bereavement.  They  can  best  estimate  their  obligations 
to  one  who  employed  his  varied  talents  through  a  long  life, 
in  maintaining  the  high  character  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar ; 


39 

ami  who,  without  (lisparagement  to  the  living  or  the  dead, 
did  at  least  as  much  as  any  other  individual,  to  preserve 
unimpaired  its  reputation  for  sound  learning,  superior 
abilities,  incorruptible  probity,  and  urbanity  of  manners. 
The  trust  confided  to  him  and  his  contemporaries,  (of  some 
of  whom  who  survive,  delicacy  forbids  more  to  be  said  than 
that  they  were  worthy  to  be  his  partners  in  such  a  trust,) 
is  now,  in  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  to  be  devolved  on  the 
younger  members  of  the  profession.  It  is  an  honourable 
distinction  to  be  made  the  keepers  of  a  deposit  which  has 
passed  through  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Ingersoll  and  the 
Tilghmans,  Rawle  and  Chauncey.  But  the  post  of  honour 
is  always  a  post  of  responsibility.  And  there  is  but  one 
way.  Gentlemen,  in  which  you  can  acquit  yourselves  of  your 
high  functions  with  dignity  and  success.  The  character  of 
the  Bar  must  depend  on  the  characters  of  its  members. 
Personal  purity  and  refinement  will  insure  professional  in- 
tegrity and  courtesy.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  religion  to 
make  and  keep  men  pure,  and  to  confer  that  refinement  of 
feeling  for  which  good  breeding  can  only  substitute  a  grace- 
ful address — in  other  words,  to  make  men  what  good  breed- 
ing requires  them  to  appear  to  be.  The  morality  which  is 
divorced  from  godliness,  however  specious  and  captivating 
to  the  eye,  is  superficial  and  deceptive.  The  morality  you 
require,  "the  only  morality  (I  use  the  language  of  an 
eminent  compeer  of  the  venerated  Chauncey,  whose  name 
and  fame  we  instinctively  associate  with  his  own,) — the 
only  morality  that  is  clear  in  its  source,  pure  in  its  pre- 
cepts, and  efiicacious  in  its  influences,  is  the  morality  of 
the  Gospel.     All  else,  at  last,  is  but  idolatry — the  worship 


40 

of  something  of  man's  own  creation,  and  that  thing  im- 
perfect and  feeble  like  himself,  and  wholly  insufficient  to 
give  him  support  and  strength."* 

Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  then — receive  and 
rest  upon  Him  as  your  Saviour — and  you  will  have  the 
best  preparation  for  the  duties  and  trials  of  this  life,  and 
the  only  adequate  preparation  for  the  life  to  come. 

*  The  Hon.  John  Sergeant. 


THE  END. 


DISCOURSE 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTEE 


DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


H.   A.   BOARDMAN,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

JOSEPH  M.  WILSON. 

228    CHESTNUT    STREET. 

18  52. 


C.     S  n  E  R  M  A  X,     r  R  I  N  T  E  B, 

19  St.  James  Street. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Phii-adelpiiia,  November  26,  1852. 

To  THE  Keverend  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.D. 

Rev'erend  and  dear  Sir  : — 

We  beg  leave  most  respectfully  to  ask  the  favour  of  you  to  fur- 
nish for  publication  a  copy  of  your  discourse,  delivered  on  Monday 
evening  last,  upon  the  life  and  character  of  Daniel  Webster.  We 
think  it  important  that  this  graphic  and  eloquent  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  departed  Statesman  should  be  preserved  in  an  en- 
during form.  It  may  have  a  salutary  influence  upon  many  aspirants 
for  political  distinction,  to  know  that  devoted  and  patriotic  services 
are  appreciated,  after  the  actors  have  passed  away;  and  it  may 
comfort  and  strengthen  the  faith  of  the  humble  Christian,  when  he 
sees  the  efficacy  of  his  holy  religion  so  triumphantly  illustrated  in 
the  trying  hour  of  death. 

With  sentiments  of  high  respect  and  regard, 

We  are  your  friends  and  fellow-citizens, 

R.  C.  Grier.  Charles  Gilpin. 

Jno.  K.  Kane.  John  A.  Brown. 

Geo.  Sharswood.  James  Dundas. 

OsAVALD  Thompson.  Charles  Macalester. 

J.  K.  Mitchell,  M.D.         Hugh  L.  Hodge,  M.D. 

Evans  Rogers.  S.  F.  Smith. 

Arthur  G.  Coffin.  Nathaniel  Chauncey. 

John  S.  Riddle.  Henry  D.  Gilpin. 

Is.^AC  Hazlehurst.  Frederick  Brown. 


Philadelphia,  November  29,  1852. 
Gentlemen  : — 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  very  kind  note,  requesting  for 

publication  a  copy  of  my  discourse  on   the  life  and  character  of 

Daniel  Webster,  and  have  pleasure  in  placing  the  manuscript  at 

your  disposal. 

I  remain,  Gentlemen, 

With  great  respect. 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

H,  A.  BOARDMAN. 
To  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Grier, 
Hon.  Charles  Gilpin, 
Hon.  John  K.  Kane, 
Hon.  George  Sharswood, 
Hon.  Oswald  Thompson, 
John  A.  Brown,  Esq., 
And  others. 


DISCOURSE. 


I  CANNOT  bring  myself  to  believe  that  the  theme 
which  is  now  engrossing  all  minds,  should  be  excluded 
from  the  pulpit.  We  are  a  smitten  nation.  The 
symbols  of  mourning  meet  the  eye  in  our  crowded 
cities,  in  our  tranquil  villages,  in  the  remotest  hamlets 
of  the  mountains.  "  A  great  man  has  fallen  in  Israel !" 
God  has  taken  from  us  "  the  lionourable  man,  and  the 
coinwellor,  and  the  eloquent  orator.'''  If  such  a  man  is 
one  of  the  choicest  earthly  gifts  heaven  can  bestow 
upon  a  peo|)le,  his  removal  may  well  be  regarded  as 
one  of  their  greatest  bereavements.  We  are  admo- 
nished that  the  fall  of  a  sparrow  has  its  lesson  of  in- 
struction for  us.  How  inexcusable  would  it  be,  should 
we  treat  an  event  like  this  with  indifference. 

Yet  while  I  recognise  the  duty  upon  which  I  am 
entering,  I  shrink  from  it.  I  have  no  hope  of  convey- 
ing to  your  minds  my  own  sense  of  the  magnitude  of 
our  loss.  Still  less  can  I  expect  to  elude  the  strictures 
of  those  who  entertain  what  may,  perhaps,  be  styled 
the  popular  view  of  the  legitimate  sphere  of  the  pulpit. 
But  I  am  pressed  with  the  feeling  that  I  must,  as  a 
Pastor,  in  some  way  improve  this  dispensation :  that 


without  attempting  a  formal  eulogy  on  Mr.  Webster, 
which  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  presumptuous. 
I  must  here  record  my  sense  of  the  invaluable  services 
he  has  rendered  to  our  common  country  and  our 
common  Christianity,  and  so  endeavour  to  turn  the 
emotions  of  sorrow  which  fill  our  hearts,  to  some  use- 
ful account.  If  I  can  do  nothing  more,  I  must  be  al- 
lowed to  cast  a  single  flower,  however  transitory,  upon 
his  grave. 

Many  eloquent  tongues  have  already  been  employed 
in  celebrating  Mr.  Webster's  character  and  achieve- 
ments. The  most  distinguished  men  of  the  leading 
political  parties  have  vied  with  each  other  in  doing 
homage  to  his  intellectual  greatness,  his  patriotism, 
and  his  private  virtues.  In  respect  to  the  first  of  these 
characteristics,  he  has  long  been  without  a  rival,  the 
acknowledged  head  and  crown  of  this  nation.  A  mind 
like  his  is  a  wonderful  creation — adapted  beyond  the 
sublimest  exertions  of  the  Divine  power  and  wisdom 
in  the  physical  world,  to  inspire  reverential  and  ador- 
ing views  of  the  moral  perfections  of  the  Deit}^  Its 
essential  elements  were  comprehension,  strength,  sa- 
gacity, and  symmetry.  Colossal  in  its  proportions,  it 
was  nevertheless  so  well  poised  that  it  awakened  ad- 
miration no  less  by  the  harmony  of  its  movements 
than  by  the  grandeur  of  its  several  parts.  The  origi- 
nal structure  of  his  intellect  conspired  with  the  whole 
current  of  his  training,  to  define  the  mission  on  which 
Providence  had  sent  him  into  the  world.  No  other 
revelation  was  needed  to  show  that  the  science  of  go- 


VERNMENT  was  to  be  the  proper  study  of  his  life,  and 
that  he  was  ultimately,  should  he  be  spared,  to  take 
his  place  among  that  honourable  assemblage — compri- 
sing, at  the  end  of  six  thousand  years,  but  a  very  small 
number  of  names — whom  the  world  reveres  as  Philo- 
sophic Statesmen.  If  we  except  the  great  New  Eng- 
land Metaphysician  and  Divine  of  the  last  century, 
Jonathan  Edwards,  our  own  country  has  produced  but 
one  mind  comparable,  in  the  qualities  just  noted,  to 
his  own ;  and  that,  by  an  inscrutable  Providence,  was 
doomed  to  a  violent  extinction  just  when  it  had 
reached  the  full  maturity  of  its  powers.  It  is  the  re- 
cord of  history,  that  Alexander  Hamilton'''  was  "  num- 
bered among  statesmen  at  an  age  when  in  others  the 
rudiments  of  character  are  scarcely  visible ;"  and  that 
"  America  saw  with  astonishment  a  lad  of  seventeen 
in  the  rank  of  her  advocates,  at  a  time  when  her  ad- 
vocates were  patriots  and  sages."  Mr.  Webster  him- 
self once  beautifully  said  of  him,  "  He  smote  the  rock 
of  the  national  resources,  and  abundant  streams  of  re- 
venue gushed  forth.  He  touched  the  dead  corpse  of 
the  public  credit,  and  it  sprung  upon  its  feet.  The 
fabled  birth  of  Minerva  from  the  brain  of  Jove,  was 
hardly  more  sudden  or  more  perfect  than  the  financial 
system  of  the  United  States  burst  from  the  conceptions 
of  Alexander  Hamilton."  If  the  genius  of  Webster 
was  not  signalized  by  so  precocious  a  development,  it 
was  marked  by  no  less  vigour  and  versatility,  and  re- 

*  We  may  fairly  claim    Hamilton  as  an  American,  although  he 
was  a  native  of  the  small  island  of  Nevis,  in  the  West  Indies. 


sembled  it  in  the  rare  and  happy  union  of  a  capacity  for 
the  largest  generalization,  with  the  utmost  patience 
and  penetration  in  the  analysis  of  details.  Like  Ham- 
ilton, too,  he  was  great  in  the  Senate  and  at  the  Bar ; 
his  equal  as  a  statesman,  certainly  not  his  inferior  as 
an  advocate.  It  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  but  a  very  few 
men  in  either  hemisphere  to  achieve  an  equal  dis- 
tinction in  these  two  fields  at  the  same  time.  Mr. 
Pitt  and  his  illustrious  antagonist.  Fox,  were  pre-emi- 
nent as  parliamentary  debaters ;  but  politics  left  them 
neither  time  nor  inclination  for  legal  practice.  Fox, 
however,  is  said  to  have  excited  the  astonishment  and 
admiration  of  the  judges  in  arguing  questions  of  law 
on  the  trial  of  Warren  Hastings.  Erskine,  the  most 
eloquent  and  successful  barrister  known  to  the  British 
Bar,  had  but  a  second  or  third  rate  rank  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  But  of  Webster  it  was  well  said  by  one 
of  the  leading  members  of  our  Bar,  at  the  late  town- 
meeting,  "  while  the  deep  tones  and  the  rich  volumes 
of  his  voice  were  still  almost  echoing  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation,  they  were  again  heard  in  forensic  splen- 
dour in  the  highest  judicial  courts  of  the  nation."* 

It  is  a  remarkable  and  striking  fact,  that  the  supe- 
riority here  claimed  for  him  should  have  been  conceded 
by  all  his  contemporaries.  Among  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  New  York  Bar,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
death,  was  the  following  : 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  large  capacities  and  varied 
powers  of  his  intellect,  in  the  culture  and  discipline  of 

*  Josiab  Randall,  Esq. 


these  powers  in  the  highest  sphere  of  human  action 
and  influence,  in  the  fortune  of  great  opportunities  and 
the  success  of  great  achievements,  Daniel  Webster 
stands  first  among  the  men  of  his  day  and  generation, 
and  his  name  and  his  fame  will  be  a  treasured  posses- 
sion to  his  country  for  ever." 

This  is  not  an  empty  j)osthumous  com|)liment.  It 
was  the  feeling,  the  universal  feeling,  during  his  life. 
In  whatsoever  part  of  the  Republic,  on  whatever  thea- 
tre, he  was  "primus  inter  pares,"  the  acknowledged 
chief.  On  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  before  the  tribunals 
of  justice,  at  public  festivals  or  political  convocations, 

"  He  above  the  rest, 
In  shape  and  gesture  proudly  eminent, 
Stood  like  a  tower." 

No  one  divided  the  primacy  with  him.  No  one 
contested  it.  No  one  seemed  even  to  envy  it.  His 
very  presence  inspired  respect.  "  It  was  enough  (to 
borrow  the  words  of  an  accomplished  Enghsh  noble- 
man* who  \T.sited  our  country  two  years  ago)  to  look 
on  his  jutting  dark  brow  and  cavernous  eyes,  and 
massive  forehead,  to  be  assured  that  they  were  the 
abode  of  as  much,  if  not  more,  intellectual  power  than 
any  head  you  perhaps  ever  remarked."  And  when 
he  spoke,  the  ample  promise  of  his  majestic  appear- 
ance was  redeemed.  You  found  yourself  listening  to 
a  consummate  orator.     Scorning  the  trickery  of  mere, 

*  The  Earl  of  Carlisle. 


10 

declamation,  he  gave  himself  to  the  question  in  hand 
with  a  dignity  and  earnestness  of  manner,  an  afflu- 
ence and  precision  of  language,  a  compactness  and 
cogency  of  reasoning,  and  a  fertility  of  illustration, 
which  never  failed  to  rivet  the  attention,  rarely  to 
carry  conviction  to  the  heart.  A  master  of  the  Eng- 
lish tongue,  the  simplicity  of  his  diction  and  the 
purity  of  his  style,  made  him  intelligible  to  persons  of 
every  class.  Nor  was  it  possible  to  listen  to  him 
without  being  instructed.  Even  in  his  familiar  con- 
versation you  were  made  to  feel  that  his  mind  re- 
volved in  a  sphere  above  that  occupied  by  ordinary 
men.  And  whatever  the  subject  on  which  he  spoke, 
you  were  certain  to  hear  something  worth  carrying 
away. 

It  is  only  an  expansion  of  the  topic  we  have  been 
dwelling  upon,  to  observe  that  Mr.  Webster  could 
speak  to  the  country  with  an  aatJiority  which  be- 
longed to  none  of  his  eminent  associates.  This  was 
not  the  result  of  any  assumed  superiority.  It  was 
not  derived  from  official  station,  for  it  was  equally 
marked  during  the  intervals  of  his  retirement,  as 
when  he  was  in  the  Senate  or  the  Cabinet,  as  decisive 
at  Marshfield  as  at  Washington.  It  was  the  spontane- 
ous tribute  of  his  fellow-citizens  of  all  parties  to  his 
great  abilities,  his  wisdom,  and  his  known  devotion 
to  the  Union.  Whenever  a  cloud  came  down  upon 
our  foreign  relations,  or  a  threatening  crisis  approached 
in  our  domestic  affiiirs,  the  nation  turned,  as  by  a  sort 
of  common  instinct,  to  Mr.  Webster.    There  was  no  man 


11 

whose  opinions  at  such  junctures  there  was  so  great 
a  desire  to  learn  ;  none  Avhose  utterances  produced  so 
decisive  an  effect  upon  the  finance  and  commerce  of 
the  country.  A  few  words  from  him,  whether  of 
distrust  or  of  hopefulness,  would  tell  upon  every  share 
of  stock  in  Wall  Street,  upon  every  cargo  of  flour  at 
Detroit,  and  every  shipload  of  cotton  at  New  Orleans. 
The  country  knew  that  he  was,  beyond  any  other 
man,  conversant  with  all  its  interests  and  relations ; 
that  he  never  spoke  what  he  did  not  fully  believe ; 
and  that  his  words  were  words  of  careful  deliberation. 
They  relied  upon  his  truthfulness,  and  this,  combined 
with  his  extraordinary  abilities,  was  a  tower  of  strength 
to  him.  There  are  able  and  truthful  men  who  sur- 
vive him ;  but  it  is  no  disparagement  to  them  to  say. 
that  there  is  no  man  living  who  can  stand  ujd  and 
speak  to  the  American  people  as  Daniel  Webster 
could,  or  whose  opinions  will  be  sought  for  in  great 
emergencies,  as  his  were. 

There  was  a  reason  for  the  confidence  which  the 
country  at  large  reposed  in  him,  paramount  even  to 
the  admiration  in  which  all  classes  held  his  trans- 
cendent abilities.  Mr.  Webster  belonged  to  the  whole 
country.  He  was  no  local  politician.  He  was  no 
mere  party  man.  New  Hampshire  might  boast  of  the 
small,  one-story  farm-house  in  which  he  was  born. 
Massachusetts  might  glory  in  having  him  as  one  of 
her  adopted  sons.  But  he  was  no  man  of  Massachu- 
setts— no  man  of  New  Hampshire, — he  was  an  Ame- 
rican.    He  had  of  course  his  geographical  ties  and 


12 

associations ;  but  Warwickshire  might  as  well  attempt 
to  monopolise  William  Shakspeare,  or  Lincolnshire 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,  as  for  any  one  of  our  common w^ealths 
to  challenge  for  itself  the  name  and  fame  of  Daniel 
Webster.  Plis  true  position  was  that  assigned  him 
in  a  sentiment  offered  at  a  public  dinner  some  eighteen 
months  ago  :  "  The  Constitution,  and  its  greatest  Ex- 
pounder— the  Union,  and  its  ablest  Defender."  With 
a  single  exception,  these  are  the  most  honourable 
titles  known  to  American  history ;  and  by  so  indisso- 
luble a  tie  has  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen  bound 
them  to  his  name,  that  they  will  go  down  to  posterity 
with  as  definitive  an  application  as  that  which  attaches 
to  the  "  Father  of  his  Country."  It  is  not  intended 
by  this  language  that  Mr.  Webster  was  not  allied  to  a 
party,  nor  that  he  did  not  in  his  place  advocate  party 
measures.  But  he  was  not,  and,  by  the  necessity  of 
his  nature,  he  could  not  be  a  strict  party  man.  Like 
Burke,  whom  he  resembled  in  several  particulars  (his 
devotion  to  agriculture  among  the  rest),  he  was  a 
statesman  as  distinguished  from  a  politician.  And 
this,  if  traced  to  its  results,  Aiay  help  to  explain  why, 
like  Burke,  also,  he  was  never  (//  ice  are  to  believe 
everytliing  loe  liear)  a  popular  favourite.  If  this  was 
a  fact,  it  was  because  he  was  too  great  to  be  popu- 
lar. He  would  not  stoop  to  pamper  the  vanity  and 
inflame  the  prejudices  of  the  people.  He  despised 
the  intrigue  and  cajolery  by  which  small  men  and 
bad  men  so  often  rise  to  power.  He  was  not  a  man 
to  be  bought  and  sold  at  the  shambles.     If  the  mea- 


13 

siires  of  an  administration  to  which  he  was  generally 
opposed  met  his  approval,  he  had  the  rare  indepen- 
dence and  magnanimity  to  support  them ;  and  some  of 
his  ablest  speeches  were  made  on  occasions  of  this 
kind.  The  triumph  of  party  was  not  the  end  he 
lived  for.  Government  was  with  him  not  a  paltry 
game  of  "  Who  icins  and  lolto  loses,''  but  a  divine  in- 
stitution, ordained  for  the  most  beneficent  objects,  and 
essentially  connected  with  the  highest  happiness  of 
individuals,  and  the  substantial  improvement  of  states. 
In  his  view,  the  problems  involved  in  administration 
are  among  the  most  profound,  as  its  functions  are 
among  the  most  important,  which  can  engage  the 
attention  of  the  human  intellect.  And  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  the  secret  loathing  with  which  he  must  have 
seen  these  momentous  interests  made,  as  they  con- 
stantly are,  the  sport  of  the  vilest  passions,  and  de- 
graded to  be  the  very  footballs  of  rival  demagogues. 

The  sj)ecial  subject  to  which  he  applied  his  powers, 
was  the  Constitution  of  his  country.  You  shall  have 
his  own  statement  on  this  point : 

"  Gentlemen,  to  be  serious,  my  life  has  been  a  life 
of  severe  labour  in  my  profession,  and  all  the  portion 
I  could  spare  of  that  labour,  from  the  support  of  my 
family  and  myself,  has  been  devoted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  subjects  connected  with  the  general  history  of 
the  country — the  Constitution  of  the  country — the 
confederation  out  of  which  the  Constitution  arose — 
all  the  history  of  all  the  Congresses  which  have 
assembled  before  and   since   the   formation   of  that 


14 

Constitution — and,  in  short,  if  I  have  learned  any- 
thing, or  know  anything — and  I  agree  it  is  very 
little — what  I  do  know  and  what  I  do  understand,  so 
tar  as  I  understand  anything,  is  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  the  history  of  its  formation,  and 
the  history  of  its  administration  under  General  Wash- 
ington, and  from  that  time  down  to  this."* 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  Mr.  Webster,  that  he 
surpassed  all  the  men  of  his  generation  in  his  minute 
familiarity  with  everything  pertaining  to  the  origin 
and  working  of  our  republican  charters,  and  in  the 
profound  and  varied  knowledge,  the  masculine  logic, 
and  the  lofty  eloquence  he  brought  to  the  exposition 
and  establishment  of  them.  "  The  ke}^  to  his  whole 
political  course  is  the  belief  that  when  the  Union  is 
dissolved,  the  internal  peace,  the  vigorous  growth, 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  States,  and  the  w^elfare  of 
their  inhabitants,  are  blighted  for  ever;  and  that, 
while  the  Union  endures,  all  else  of  trial  and  calamity 
which  can  befall  a  nation  may  be  remedied  or  borne."-j- 
His  feeling  on  this  subject  w^as  so  much  like  that  of 
the  immortal  statesman  with  whom  he  has  already 
been  compared,  that  with  two  or  three  slight  altera- 
tions, a  passage  applied  by  his  eloquent  eulogist  to 
Hamilton,  might  be  readily  taken  as  designed  for 
Webster. 

"  He  reserved  himself  for  crises  which  he  feared  are 
approaching ;  such  crises,  especially,  as  may  affect  the 

*  Speech  at  Syracuse,  New  York,  May  26th,  1851. 
t  Mr.  Everett. 


15 

integrity  of  the  Union.  How  he  was  alarmed  by 
everything  which  pointed  at  its  dissolution ;  how  in- 
dignant were  his  feelings  and  language  on  that  ungra- 
cious topic ;  how  stern  and  steady  his  hostility  to 
every  influence  which  only  leaned  toward  the  project, 
they  will  attest  with  whom  he  was  in  habits  of  com- 
munication. In  every  shape  it  encountered  his  repro- 
bation, as  unworthy  of  a  statesman,  as  fatal  to  Ame- 
rica, and  desirable  to  the  desperate  alone.  One  of 
his  primary  objects  was  to  consolidate  the  eftbrts  of 
good  men  in  retarding  a  calamity  which,  after  all, 
they  may  be  unable  to  avert ;  but  which  no  partial 
nor  temporary  policy  should  induce  them  to  accele- 
rate. To  these  sentiments  must  be  traced  his  hatred 
to  continental  factions;  his  anxiety  for  the  federal 
constitution,  although,  in  his  judgment,  too  slight  for 
the  pressure  which  it  has  to  sustain ;  his  horror  of 
every  attempt  to  sap  its  foundation  or  loosen  its 
fabric ;  his  zeal  to  consecrate  it  in  the  affections  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  that,  if  it  fall  at  last,  they  may  be 
pure  from  the  guilt  of  its  overthrow — an  overthrow 
which  may  be  accomplished  in  an  hour,  but  of  which 
the  woes  may  be  entailed  upon  ages  to  come."''* 

How  much  his  deep  solicitude  for  the  Union  gave 
tone  and  character  to  Mr.  Webster's  life  and  labours, 
must  be  known  wherever  his  name  is  mentioned. 
The  impress  of  it  is  upon  all  his  speeches — his  funeral 
eulogies — his  great  legal  arguments.     It  might  even 

*  Dr.  Mason's  Oration  before  the  Cincinnati,  in  New  York,  July 
31st,  1804. 


16 

be  detected  in  the  rich  tissue  of  his  ordinary  conver- 
sation. You  could  almost  read  it  in  his  majestic 
brow,  and  his  large  lustrous,  piercing  eye.'^  Such 
had  been  the  course  of  events  that  his  very  presence 
suggested  the  idea  of  the  Union.  When  men  saw 
him,  their  first  thought  was  of  the  Constitution  ;  and 
there  went  forth  from  every  breast  a  spontaneous 
tribute  of  veneration  and  gratitude  toward  the  man 
who  had  been  so  instrumental,  under  Pr.ovidence,  in 
preserving  intact  the  framework  of  our  unrivalled 
government."!* 

Nor  has  the  extent  of  our  obligations  to  him  been 
overrated.  It  was  his  fortune  to  live  at  a  most  inte- 
resting and  critical  period  of  our  history.     He  com- 

*  The  author  of  the  pamphlet  entitled,  "  Personal  Memorials  of 
Daniel  Webster,"  (Lippincott,  Grambo  &  Co.,)  mentions  that  he 
once  questioned  Mr.  Webster  as  to  his  personal  appearance  when  a 
school-master  in  Maine.  His  reply  was,  "  Long,  slender,  pale,  and 
all  eyes  ;  indeed,  I  went  by  the  name  of  '■  All  Eyes,'  the  country 
round." 

'\  In  one  of  his  addresses  just  quoted,  he  observed  that  it  so 
happened  that  all  his  public  services  had  been  rendered  to  the 
General  Government.  But,  correcting  the  statement,  he  mentioned 
a  single  exception.  ''I  was,"  said  he,  ''for  ten  days,  a  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  and  I  turned  my  thoughts  to  the 
search  of  some  good  object  in  which  I  could  be  useful  in  that  posi- 
tion ;  and  after  much  reflection,  I  introduced  a  bill,  which,  with  the 
general  consent  of  both  houses  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
passed  into  a  law,  and  is  now  a  law  of  the  State,  which  enacts  that 
no  man  in  the  State  shall  catch  trout  in  any  other  manner  than 
with  the  ordinary  hook  and  line.  With  that  exception,  I  never  was 
connected  for  an  hour  with  any  State  government  in  my  life." 


17 

menced  his  life  almost  simultaneously  witli  our  Con- 
stitution, having  been  a  boy  of  only  five  years  old 
when  the  Convention  which  formed  it  assembled  in 
this  city.    The  difficulties  and  dangers  which  gathered 
around  the  infancy  of  the  government,  and  threatened 
its  early  subversion,  had  been  happily  surmounted 
before  he  reached  his  maturity ;  but  questions  of  the 
gravest  import,  and  fraught  with  momentous  conse- 
quences  to   the  country,   arose   from   time   to  time 
during  the  entire  period  of  his  public  career.     These 
were  not  simply  matters,  of  policy  and  expediency, 
Uke  the  tariff,  the  bank,  the  public  lands,  and  other 
legislative   measures,  which   he   discussed   with   his 
usual  abilit}^ ;  but  questions  underlying  all  legislation, 
and  affecting  the  fundamental  law  on  which  our  in- 
stitutions rest.     It  was  a  new  government ;  new,  not 
simply  as  a  chronological  fact,  but  in  many  of  the 
essential  principles  which  entered  into  its  structure. 
History  recorded  no  precedent  for  it.     The  world  had 
seen  nothing  like  it.     It  had  required  all  the  influence 
of  Washington  and  his  associates^  and  all  the  erudi- 
tion, acumen,  and  patriotism  of  the  authors  of  the 
"  Federalist,"    and   other   distinguished   writers    and 
orators,  to  win  the  consent  of  the  different  States  to 
a  federal  Union.     And  when  the    Union  was  once 
formed,  the  delicate  relations  of  the  general  and  the 
state  governments  became,  as  they  still  are,  a  source 
of  embarrassment  and  controversy.    It  was  a  question 
of  this  sort  on  which  Mr.  Webster  made  his  maiden 


18 


speech  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States* 
— the  celebrated   Dartmouth   College   case.     Of  his 
argument  on   that   occasion,  it  has  been   observed  : 
"The  logic  and  the  law  were  rendered  irresistible. 
But  as  he  advanced,  his  heart  warmed  to  the  subject 
and  the  occasion.     Thoughts  and  feelings  that  had 
grown  old  with  his  best  affections,  rose  unbidden  to 
his  lips.     He  remembered  that  the  institution  he  was 
defending  was  one  where  his  own  youth  had  been 
nurtured ;  and  the  moral  tenderness  and  beauty  this 
gave  to  the  grandeur  of  his  thoughts,  the  sort  of  reli- 
gious sensibility  it  imparted  to  his  urgent  appeals  and 
demands  for  the  stern  fulfilment  of  what  law  and 
justice  required,  wrought  up  the  whole  audience  to 
an  extraordinary  state  of  excitement.     Many  betrayed 
strong  agitation,  many  were  dissolved  in  tears.     Pro- 
minent among  them  was  that  eminent  lawyer  and 
statesman,  Eobert  Goodloe  Harper,  who  came  to  him 
when  he  resumed  his  seat,  evincing  emotions  of  the 
highest  gratification.     When  he  ceased  to  speak,  there 
was  a  perceptible  interval  before  any  one  was  willing 
to  break  the  silence ;  and  when  that  vast  crowd  sepa- 
rated, not  one  person  of  the  whole  number  doubted 
that  the  man  who  had  that  day  so  moved,  astonished, 
and  controlled   them,  had  vindicated  for  himself  a 
place  at  the  side  of  the  first  jurists  of  the  country."j- 
Such  was  the  auspicious  dawn  of  his  brilliant  ca- 
reer as  an  expounder  of  the  Constitution.     In  subse- 

*  A.D.  1818,  in  his  thirty-seventh  year. 
f  Mr.  Ticknor,  quoted  by  Everett. 


19 

quent  years  still  greater  questions  gave  occasion  to  still 
greater  efforts.  Political  heresies  of  the  most  startling 
character,  such  as  no  opposer  of  the  federal  compact 
had  breathed  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic,  were 
propagated  under  the  sanction  of  distinguished  names, 
and  found  able  and  eloquent  champions  within  the 
walls  of  the  Capitol.  Principles  were  propounded  re- 
specting the  sovereignty  of  the  states,  which,  if  carried 
out,  would  have  turned  the  bonds  which  hold  the  Union 
together  into  withs  of  straw,  and  left  this  glorious 
fabric  to  fall  to  pieces,  hke  the  early  republics,  a  prey 
to  intestine  feuds.  The  mercifi^l  Providence  that  had 
brought  us  through  so  many  other  perils,  did  not  aban- 
don us  in  this  hour  of  our  extremit}^  A  man  was 
found  equal  to  the  crisis.  He  knew  that  it  was  a  crisis. 
He  formed  a  just  estimate  of  the  grandeur  of  the  occa- 
sion. It  was  in  his  view  an  issue  of  no  less  solemnity 
than  whether  this  august  Union  was  to  be  maintained 
and  perpetuated,  or  broken  up  into  a  group  of  petty 
rival  confederacies ;  whether  this  beautiful  land  was 
still  to  be  the  abode  of  peace  and  plenty,  intelligence 
and  piety,  with  the  freest,  the  happiest,  and  the  most 
improving  population  on  the  globe,  or  to  be  given  over 
to  the  manifold  horrors  of  a  violent  dismemberment, 
and  ultimately  to  the  yet  greater  horrors  of  a  fratrici- 
dal war ;  whether  the  oppressed  nations  were  still  to 
draw  encouragement  and  hope  from  the  spectacle  of  a 
great  people  rising  to  an  unexampled  pitch  of  prosper- 
ity and  renown,  under  the  influence  of  free  institu- 
tions, or  to  see  the  last  hope  of  constitutional  liberty 


20 

extinguished,  and  the  whole  globe  covered  again  with 
the  black  pall  of  despotism.  Such  were  the  issues  in- 
volved in  the  sublime  contest  to  which  he  was  called. 
Rarely  in  the  course  of  human  events  has  one  man 
had  so  vast  a  burden  laid  upon  him.  Never  did 
a  man  acquit  himself  in  a  great  crisis  more  tri- 
umphantly. It  is  not  my  province  to  rehearse  the 
details  of  that  day's*  achievement.  It  is  still  fresh  in 
your  memories.  The  fame  of  it  is  a  part,  and  no  tri- 
vial part  of  our  country's  glory.  While  the  Union 
lasts,  that  speech  will  continue  to  be  cited  as  one  of 
the  noblest  efforts — perhaps  the  very  noblest — of  mo- 
dern eloquence.  And  should  this  Republic  hereafter 
yield  to  the  destiny  of  all  human  organizations  and 
crumble  into  ruins,  the  oblivion  that  sweeps  away  our 
cities,  our  fortresses,  and  our  charters,  will  leave 
Webster's  reply  to  Hayne  to  be  read  and  admired 
by  distant  generations  as  a  memento  of  our  greatness, 
no  less  indestructible  than  the  monuments  which 
Greece  and  Rome  have  respectively  in  the  Philippics 
of  Demosthenes  and  the  orations  of  Cicero  against 
Cataline. 

I  have  dwelt  on  this  speech  because  of  the  pre-emi- 
nence which  is  commonly  assigned  to  it  among  Mr. 
Webster's  oratorical  efforts.  And  yet  three  years  af- 
terwards he  made  a  speech,  of  which  one  of  our  most 
eminent  jurists,*!"  whose  name  is  never  pronounced  but 
with  reverence,  said,  in  writing  to  him,  "  I  had  just 

*  January  20,  1830. 

I  The  late  Chancellor  Kent. 


21 

finished  the  rapturous  perusal  of  your  speech  on  the 
Protest,  as  appearing  in  the  Intelligencer  of  Saturday, 
when  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  it  from  you  in  a 
pamphlet  form.  I  never  had  a  greater  treat  than  the 
reading  of  that  speech,  this  morning.  You  never 
equalled  this  effort.  It  surpasses  everything  in  logic 
— in  simplicity,  and  beauty,  and  energy  of  diction — 
in  clearness — in  rebuke — in  sarcasm — in  patriotic  and 
glowing  feelings — in  just  and  profound  constitutional 
views — in  critical  severity  and  matchless  strength.  It 
is  worth  millions  to  our  liberties." 

There  is  still  another  speech,  too  memorable  to  be 
passed  over  in  this  connexion,  but  too  recent  to  re- 
quire more  than  a  brief  reference.  We  are  now  very 
much  in  the  condition  of  a  ship,  which,  after  encoun- 
tering a  terrific  and  protracted  storm,  emerges  at  length 
into  a  tranquil  sea,  the  heavens  so  serene,  the  air  so 
bland,  the  sense  of  security  so  perfect,  that  all  the 
peril  and  anxiety  of  the  hurricane  are  as  though  they 
had  never  been.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  as  we  look 
abroad  over  our  peaceful  and  smiling  land,  and  see  the 
various  tribes  which  compose  our  population  dwelling- 
together  in  unity — no  discontent,  no  alienation,  no 
local  jealousies,  no  political  controversies  of  sufficient 
moment  to  occasion  the  slightest  solicitude — that  three 
years  have  not  gone  by  since  the  whole  country  was 
convulsed  for  months  together  with  angry  discussions 
which  imperilled  the  very  existence  of  the  Union.  It 
was  no  false  alarm,  no  cry  of  women  and  children, 
which  startled  the  nation.     It  seemed  as  though  all 


22 

the  fountains  of  sectional  bigotry  had  been  broken  up ; 
as  though  the  accumulated  resentments  of  a  half  cen- 
tury had  burst  forth  with  unheard-of  fury,  and  poured 
themselves  upon  the  ship  of  state  with  a  violence  which 
threatened  to  "  push  from  its  moorings  the  sacred  ark 
of  the  common  safety,  and  to  drive  this  gallant  vessel, 
freighted  with  everj^thing  dear  to  an  American  bo- 
som, upon  the  rocks,  or  lay  it  a  sheer  hulk  upon  the 
ocean."*  It  was  an  emergency  which  appealed  with 
irresistible  pathos  and  energy  to  the  patriotism  of  the 
country.  And  the  appeal  was  not  in  vain.  Our  sanc- 
tuaries listened  to  unwonted  and  importunate  prayer 
for  the  perpetuity  of  our  beloved  Union.  States- 
men of  all  parties,  suspending  for  the  time  their  minor 
differences,  hastened  with  a  common  loyalty  to  the 
succour  of  their  common  country.  The  people  in  their 
might  and  majesty  assembled  to  deliberate  on  the 
crisis.  And  the  mandate  went  up  to  the  Capitol  from 
millions  of  voices,  like  the  sound  of  many  waters,  that 
THE  Union  must  and  should  be  preserved.  But  this 
sublime  movement  of  the  people  was  itself  no  less  an 
effect  than  a  cause.  Its  mainspring  was  at  Washing- 
ton. The  Senate-chamber  was  again  the  battle-field 
on  which  this  great  contest  was  to  be  decided.  And 
it  was,  for  the  second  time,  the  high  honour  of  Mr. 
Webster  to  strike  the  decisive  blow  for  the  integrity 
of  the  Union.  Other  men  there  were,  his  illustrious 
peers,  both  in  and  out  of  Congress,  who  contributed  in 
no  mean  degree  to  bring  about  the  propitious  result. 

*  William  Pinkney — on  the  Missouri  Question. 


23 

But  such  were  the  compHcations  of  parties,  and  such 
his  personal  antecedents  and  existing  affinities,  not  to 
add,  such  his  thorough  comprehension  of  every  one  of 
the  pregnant  questions  involved  in  the  controversy, 
that  to  him,  more  perhaps  than  to  any  other  indivi- 
dual, was  assigned  the  responsibility  of  determining 
the  final  issue.  He  accepted  the  trust,  and  planted 
himself  in  the  breach.  "  The  imprisoned  winds,"  said 
he  in  the  solemn  exordium  of  his  memorable  speech 
on  that  occasion,'-'  "are  let  loose.  The  East,  the 
North,  and  the  stormy  South,  combine  to  throw  the 
whole  ocean  into  commotion,  to  toss  its  billows  to  the 
skies  and  disclose  its  profoundest  depths.  I  do  not 
affect  to  regard  myself,  Mr.  President,  as  holding,  or 
as  fit  to  hold,  the  helm  in  this  combat  with  the  politi- 
cal elements;  but  I  have  a  duty  to  perform,  and  I 
mean  to  perform  it  with  fidelity,  not  without  a  sense 
of  existing  dangers,  but  not  without  hope."  Address- 
ing himself  to  the  difficult  and  perilous  task  in  this 
spirit,  he  took  up  the  debated  topics,  now  twisted  and 
matted  into  a  Gordian  knot,  and  resolved  the  tangled 
mass,  not  by  cutting,  but  by  untying  it.  One  by  one 
the  vexed  questions  were  drawn  out,  defined,  and  ad- 
justed to  each  other,  until  at  length  a  platform  was 
constructed,  honourable  to  the  North,  honourable  to 
the  South,  and  true  to  the  Constitution,  where  men  of 
all  types  might  sit  down  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Union  and  smoke  the  calumet.  It  would  be  too  much 
to  say  that  this  speech  restored  the  country  to  tran- 

*  March  7,  1850. 


24 

quillity.  But  the  country  instantly  began  to  breathe 
more  freely.  There  was  a  sort  of  feeling  that  Daniel 
Webster  was  a  safe  guide ;  and  that  if  he  had  found 
a  path  through  this  morass,  it  must  be  solid  footing 
for  those  who  chose  to  follow  him.  In  the  end,  after 
months  of  agitation,  which  gave  occasion  to  many  of 
our  ablest  statesmen  to  signalize  their  devotion  to  the 
Union,  the  great  mass  of  the  people  did  follow  him. 
By  the  favour  of  a  merciful  Providence,  the  Union 
was  not  only  preserved,  but  cemented. 

It  were  a  curious  speculation,  what  would  have 
been  the  probable  result  had  Mr.  Webster  thrown 
himself,  at  this  juncture,  into  the  opposite  scale  ;  had 
he,  instead  of  advising  mutual  conciliation  and  con- 
cession, taken  ground  boldly  against  the  Compromise, 
and  employed  his  great  powers  in  resisting  that  ad- 
justment. We  have  no  warrant  for  maintaining  that 
even  this  would  have  defeated  the  arrangement  in 
question;  but  he  knows  little  of  the  weight  which 
Mr.  Webster's  name  carried  with  it,  who  can  doubt 
that  it  would  have  multiplied  the  obstructions  to  a 
settlement  a  hundred-fold.  The  people  of  this  country, 
as  a  body,  are  not  politicians.  And  throughout  all 
the  States  north  of  the  Potomac,  there  were  tens  of 
thousands  of  quiet,  industrious  citizens,  who,  irrespec- 
tive of  party  ties,  were  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  Mr. 
Webster's  opinions  on  all  questions  properly  national. 
Had  his  voice  gone  forth  at  this  crisis — "  These  mea- 
sures are  unjust  to  the  North;  they  are  subversive  of 
the  Constitution;  they  are  unrighteous  and  oppres- 


25 

sive," — the  whole  country,  North  and  South,  would 
have  reeled  with  excitement,  and  all  the  previous 
ascitation  would  have  been  but  as  the  tremor  which 
precedes  the  earthquake.  We  cannot  doubt,  it  would 
be  an  ungrateful  distrust  of  the  benign  Providence 
that  has  always  protected  us,  to  doubt,  that  even 
with  this  opposition,  the  nation  as  a  body  would 
ultimately  have  been  conducted  to  some  amicable 
solution  of  the  difficulty.  But  had  his  influence  been 
cast  into  the  adverse  scale,  the  quivering  beam  would 
have  held  the  nation  in  long  and  intolerable  suspense. 
From  this  trial  the  patriotism  and  fortitude  of  Mr. 
Webster  saved  us.  It  was  a  service  calculated  to  put 
both  these  quahties  to  the  test;  but  he  was  never 
found  wanting  where  the  Union  was  concerned.  In 
referring  to  this  occasion  more  than  a  year  afterwards, 
he  said,*  "  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  pursue  this  course, 
and  I  did  not  care  what  was  to  be  the  consequence. 
I  felt  it  was  my  duty  in  a  very  alarming  crisis,  to 
come  out ;  to  go  for  my  country  and  my  whole  coun- 
try; and  to  exert  any  power  I  had,  to  keep  that 
country  together.  I  cared  for  nothing,  I  was  afraid 
of  nothing,  but  I  meant  to  do  my  duty.  Duty  per- 
formed makes  a  man  happy ;  duty  neglected  makes  a 
man  unhapp}^  I,  therefore,  in  the  face  of  all  discou- 
ragements and  all  dangers,  was  ready  to  go  forth  and 
do  what  I  thought  my  country — your  country — de- 
manded of  me.  And,  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  say 
here  to-day,  that  if  the  fate  of  John  Rogers  had  stared 

*  At  Buffalo. 


26 

me  in  the  face,  if  I  had  seen  the  stake,  if  I  had  heard 
the  faggots  already  crackUng,  by  the  blessing  of  Al- 
might}^  God,  I  would  have  gone  on  and  discharged 
the  duty  which  I  thought  my  country  called  upon  me 
to  perform.  I  would  have  become  a  martyr  to  save 
that  country." 

Such  power  over  men  as  this  great  orator  displayed 
on  this  and  other  occasions,  is  a  godlike  endowment ; 
and  according  to  the  principles  by  which  it  is  con- 
trolled, will  it  spread  light  and  joy  over  a  land,  or  con- 
vert it  into  a  scene  of  devastation.  They  are  blessed 
indeed,  who  have  grace  given  them  to  use  such  an 
endowment  for  the  good  of  mankind ;  and  with  what 
terrific  fury  will  retributive  justice  avenge  itself  upon 
the  men  who  prostitute  these  high  gifts  to  purposes 
of  evil. 

The  closing  sentence  of  the  letter  of  Chancellor 
Kent,  quoted  a  few  moments  ago,  contains  a  thought 
that  should  be  noted.  "  Your  speech  is  ivorth  millions 
to  our  liberties.''  The  great  battles  of  freedom  are 
oftener  fought  in  the  Senate  than  in  the  field.  Mr. 
Webster's  life  was  consecrated  to  the  cause  of  enlight- 
ened, constitutional  liberty.  He  might  have  adopted 
as  his  own  the  motto  of  the  great  Selden,  yrspl  -jrccvTls  'rr\v 
eXsuSs^iav :  (abovc  all  things,  libert}^)  In  those  elabo- 
rate arguments  which  enchained  by  turns  an  applaud- 
ing Senate  and  an  admiring  Court,  he  was  strength- 
ening the  foundations  of  our  political  edifice,  and 
making  it  a  safer  and  more  comfortable  home  for  the 
millions  who  have  sought  a  shelter  in  it.     All  his 


27 

sympathies  were  on  the  side  of  freedom  and  intelli- 
gent progi'ess :  for  it  was  not  the  least  of  his  njerits 
that  he  eluded  the  common  fault  of  superior  minds 
employed  in  the  more  recondite  branches  of  jurispru- 
dence, or  subjected  to  the  capricious  criticisms  of  the 
popular  voice.  Such  men  are  apt  to  become  conser- 
vative to  an  excess.  They  value  law  more  than 
justice.  They  distrust  and  dread  the  people.  They 
are  jealous  of  enlarging  their  political  franchises. 
They  look  with  complacency  upon  a  strong  govern- 
ment, and  read  nothing  but  danger  in  the  effervescence 
and  tumult  of  popular  gatherings,  where  the  masses 
meet  to  do  their  own  business  in  their  own  way.  No 
man  had  clearer  or  sounder  conceptions  than  this 
eminent  statesman,  of  the  essential  conditions  of 
national  freedom.  He  well  knew  that  self-govern- 
ment was  one  of  the  highest  and  most  difficult  func- 
tions, whether  for  individuals  or  for  nations.  He 
never  countenanced,  therefore,  that  delusive  and  fatal 
radicalism,  which  would  cast  all  the  thrones  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  those  who  sit  upon  them,  into  one  great 
bonfire,  and  replace  them  with  democratic  charters. 
But  while  he  recognised  the  need  of  some  preparatory 
training  as  indispensable  to  the  success  of  republican 
institutions,  he  was  inexorably  opposed  to  all  the 
maxims  and  traditions  of  arbitrary  rule,  and  ever 
ready  to  employ  his  argumentative  and  luminous 
eloquence  in  cheering  on  nations  which  were  strug- 
gling for  their  independence.  Of  this  we  have  two 
remarkable  illustrations  in  his  speeches  on  the  Greek 


28 


Revolution  and  the  Panama  Mission.     The  generous 
sentijnents  so  worthy  of  a  statesman,  and  especially 
of  an  American  statesman,  which  pervade  these,  and 
indeed,  all  his  speeches,  characterize  also  his  diplo- 
matic papers.     They  are  impressed  on  every  page  of 
that  remarkable  document,  in  allusion  to  which  one 
of  our  own  distinguished  citizens,  who  recently  adorned 
the  second  office  in  the  Republic,  so  felicitously  said  at 
the  late  town-meeting,  "  Two  years  have  not  elapsed 
since  Mr.  Webster's  pungent,  powerful,  and  patriotic 
letter  to  Mr.  Hulsemann  resounded  like  the  roar  of 
ordnance  throughout  Europe."     The  Cabinets  of  the 
other  hemisphere  were  left  in  no  uncertainty  as  to 
the  ground  on  which  our  Secretary,  and  the  govern- 
ment he  represented,  stood.     And  it  was  a  solace  to 
the  continental  nations  to  hear  their  oppressors  re- 
buked by  one,  who,  spurning  the  courtly  dialect  in 
which  ministers  and  ambassadors  are  accustomed  to 
disguise  their  real  sentiments,  dared  to  tell  them  in 
plain,  unvarnished  Saxon  words,  which  startled  the 
whole  realm  of  diplomacy,  that  America  would  not 
permit  any  foreign  interference  in  her  affairs ;  that 
while  they  abstained  from  any  intervention  in  the 
conflicts  of  Europe,  "  the  government  and  people  of 
the  United  States  could  not  remain  indifferent  specta- 
tors when  they  beheld  the  people  of  foreign  countries 
sjDontaneously  moving  towards  the  adoption  of  insti- 
tutions like  their  own ;"  and  that  "  nothing  should 
deter  them  from  exercising,  at  their  own  discretion, 
the  rights  belonging  to  them  as  an  independent  nation, 


29 

and  of  forming  and  expressing  their  own  opinions 
freely,  and  at  all  times,  upon  the  great  political  events 
which  may  transpire  among  the  civilized  nations  of 
the  earth." 

Happily  for  Mr.  Webster's  fame  and  for  his  country, 
a  new  edition  of  his  works,  edited  by  a  distinguished 
personal  friend  (now  his  successor  in  the  Cabinet), 
was  23ublished  under  his  own  eye,  but  a  few  months 
before  his  death.  With  the  exception  of  his  diplo- 
matic papers,  the  matter  contained  in  these  six  vo- 
lumes, has  all  been  spoken,  and  yet  it  savours  as  little 
of  the  character  of  mere  speech-makmg,  as  any  col- 
lection of  orations  or  addresses  in  the  language.  It  is 
the  most  valuable  contribution  which  has  been  made 
to  our  political  hterature  since  the  era  of  the  Fede- 
ralist; and  no  professional  library  wdll  hereafter  be 
deemed  complete  without  it.  It  "was  the  singular 
merit  of  Mr.  Webster,  that  he  was  able  to  embellish 
the  most  profound  disquisitions  in  political  science 
with  elegant  and  various  learning,  and  to  enshrine 
them  in  a  brilliant  and  majestic  eloquence.  The  ora- 
tor has  passed  away,  but  the  patriot — the  statesman — 
the  sage — is  immortal.  Open  his  works  at  random, 
and  you  will  instantly  feel  yourself  to  be  in  commu- 
nion with  a  master-mind.  Nearly  all  the  important 
events  in  our  history — the  origin  and  essential  attri- 
butes of  our  federal  and  state  governments,  the  deli- 
cate questions  growing  out  of  the  expansion  of  our  ter- 
ritory and  the  accession  of  new  states,  the  proper 
limitations  of  the  powers  vested  in  the  three  depart- 


30 

ments  of  the  government,  the  conduct  of  our  foreign 
relations,  the  services  of  the  founders  of  the  Repubhc, 
education,  the  mechanic  arts,  agriculture,  Christianity 
as  the  indisj)ensable  basis  of  free  institutions — these 
are  among  the  subjects  he  has  discussed,  and  discussed 
in  such  a  way  that  he  appears  equally  at  home  with 
them  all.  Every  theme  to  which  he  applies  his  impe- 
rial intellect,  becomes  transparent.  Touched  by  his 
wand,  the  most  chaotic  mass  of  materials  is  reduced 
to  intelligible  forms.  Complex  details  are  classified. 
Principles  take  the  place  of  sophisms.  Declamation 
gives  way  to  argument.  Precedents  are  sifted  to  their 
last  analysis.  Consequences  are  portrayed  with  pro- 
phetic sagacity.  Objections  are  refuted.  One  strong- 
hold of  error  after  another  is  demolished.  And  you 
follow  on  wherever  the  great  orator  leads  the  way,  not 
because  he  has  s6  fascinated  you  with  the  sorcery  of 
his  eloquence,  that  you  are  no  longer  a  responsible 
agent,  but  because  3^our  reason  is  satisfied,  and  you 
have  the  witness  within  yourself  that  it  is  truth,  not 
victory,  at  which  he  is  aiming.  Fascinated,  indeed, 
you  may  be.  Who  could  be  otherwise  in  perusing 
those  admirable  performances  in  which  there  is  so  much 
to  gratify  the  taste,  to  enkindle  pure  and  generous 
emotions,  to  expand  the  mental  vision,  and  inspire  the 
soul  with  a  profounder  consciousness  of  its  intrinsic 
dignity  and  its  large  capacities.  And  yet,  in  all  and 
above  all,  it  is  your  reason  which  is  addressed  and  con- 
vinced. Mr.  Webster  never  fell  into  the  error  of  de- 
grading his  audience  beneath  the  proper  level  of  hu- 


31 

manity,  and  treating  them  as  though  they  were  crea- 
tures of  mere  sensibihty  or  mere  fancy,  who  cared  only 
to  be  excited  or  amused.  Whether  it  is  before  a 
crowded  Senate  or  a  Mechanics'  Institute,  before  the 
first  legal  tribunal  of  the  country,  or  a  heterogeneous 
mass-meeting,  assembled  from  the  palaces  and  the 
workshops  of  a  large  city,  he  never  forgets  that  he  is 
a  man  himself  and  is  speaking  to  men.  He  reverences, 
as  every  man  who  presumes  to  address  his  fellow-men 
in  public  or  through  the  press,  ought  to  reverence,  the 
human  understanding.  He  takes  it  for  granted  that 
you  want  to  be  reasoned  with;  that  nothing  will 
satisfy  you  but  truth  and  argument ;  and  that  to  at- 
tempt to  put  you  off,  when  you  are  eager  to  have  some 
great  problem  of  national  policy  or  personal  duty  re- 
solved, with  a  bouquet  of  tropes  or  a  quiver  of  invec- 
tives, would  be  like  mocking  an  exhausted  and  gasping 
caravan  in  the  desert,  by  rehearsing  to  them  the  tales 
in  the  Arabian  Nights  Entertainments.  A  few  intro- 
ductory words  of  courtesy  there  may  be,  and  then  for 
the  argument.  And  with  such  fairness  and  logical 
fidelity  does  he  pursue  the  argument — clothing  it  with 
a  diction  so  plain  as  to  be  intelligible  to  the  humblest 
capacity,  and  so  beautiful  as  to  satisfy  the  most  criti- 
cal taste — that  if  you  go  along  with  him  at  all,  as  you 
will  be  pretty  likely  to  do,  it  will  be  because  you  feel 
at  every  step  that  you  have  firm  ground  under  your 
feet,  and  know  what  you  are  about  just  as  well  as  you 
do  when  treading  the  familiar  rounds  of  your  daily 
avocation. 


32 

This,  in  fact,  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  Mr. 
Webster's  speeches  which  warrant  us  in  predicting 
that  they  will  be  as  imperishable  as  anything  in  our 
literature.  They  are  full  of  important  truth,  expressed 
in  a  manner  which  everybody  can  understand.  We 
may  say  of  him  what  a  profound  critic  has  said  of  Mr. 
Fox  :  "  For  ourselves,  we  think  we  never  heard  any 
man  who  dismissed  us  from  the  argument  on  a  debated 
topic,  with  such  a  feeling  of  satisfied  and  final  convic- 
tion, or  such  a  competence  to  tell  why  we  were  con- 
vinced. There  was,  in  the  view  in  which  subjects 
were  placed  by  him,  something  like  the  daylight,  that 
simple  clearness  which  makes  things  conspicuous  and 
does  not  make  them  glare,  which  adds  no  colour  or 
form,  but  purely  makes  visible  in  perfection  the  real 
colour  and  form  of  all  things  round ;  a  kind  of  light, 
less  amusing  than  that  of  magnificent  lustres,  or  a 
thousand  coloured  lamps,  and  less  fascinating  and  ro- 
mantic than  that  of  the  moon ;  but  which  is  immea- 
surably preferred  when  we  are  bent  on  sober  business, 
and  not  at  leisure,  or  not  in  the  disposition  to  wander 
delighted  among  beautiful  shadows  and  delusions.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  he  possessed,  in  a  high  degree, 
wit  and  fancy ;  but  superlative  intellect  was  the  grand 
distinction  of  his  eloquence ;  the  pure  force  of  sense, 
of  plain,  downright  sense,  was  so  great  that  it  would 
have  given  a  character  of  sublimity  to  his  eloquence, 
even  if  it  had  never  once  been  aided  by  a  happy  image 
or  a  brilliant  explosion.     The  grandeur  of  plain  sense, 


33 

would  not  have  been  deemed  an  absurd  phrase,  by  any 
man  who  had  heard  one  of  his  best  speeches." 

When  to  these  considerations  it  is  added,  that  the 
great  questions  discussed  by  Mr.  Webster,  can  never 
cease  to  have  their  importance  while  our  institutions 
last,  we  may  assert  with  confidence,  that  his  writings 
will  become  an  indispensable  text-book  in  the  training 
of  our  future  civilians.  "  I  shall  take  care,"  said  Lord 
Erskine,  "to  put  the  works  of  Mr.  Burke  into  the 
hands  of  those  whose  principles  a.re  left  to  my  forma- 
tion." With  the  same  feeling,  many  an  American 
citizen  will  place  Mr.  Webster's  works  in  the  hands  of 
his  sons.  What  better  service,  indeed,  so  far  as  their 
secular  education  is  concerned,  could  we  render  them  ? 
Where  could  they  find  a  richer  repository  of  sound 
political  maxims,  of  lucid  and  comprehensive  views 
concerning  our  national  rights  and  duties,  and  of  mas- 
terly disquisitions  in  constitutional  jurisprudence  ? 
What  writings  would  do  more  to  make  them  thinkers 
and  reasoners ;  to  form  them  to  a  large  and  just  esti- 
mate of  their  social  and  civil  responsibilities ;  to  raise 
them  above  the  littlenesses  of  sectional  prejudice,  and 
put  the  stamp  of  a  broad  nationality  upon  their  pa- 
triotism ;  to  show  them  that  whatever  use  political 
parties  may  choose  to  make  of  their  honours,  and  to 
whomsoever  they  may  see  fit  to  vote  a  triumph,  a 
truly  great  mind,  animated  by  virtuous  sentiments 
and  embracing  the  whole  country  within  the  wide 
sweep  of  its  affections,  can  achieve  for  itself  a  reputa- 
tion which  no  party-idolatry  could  confer,  and  no  party- 


34 

malignity  annul ;  to  stimulate  them  to  seek,  not  the 
"  empty  blast  of  popular  favour  or  the  applause  of  a 
giddy  multitude/'  but  that  "  true  glory,"  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  prince  of  Roman  orators,  consists  "  in  a 
wide  and  illustrious  fame  of  many  and  great  benefits 
conferred  upon  our  friends,  our  country,  or  the  whole 
race  of  mankind;'"*'  and  to  impress  it  deeply  upon 
their  minds,  that  "  if  we  and  our  posterity  shall  be 
true  to  the  Christian  religion,  if  we  and  they  shall  live 
always  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  shall  respect  his  com- 
mandments, if  we  and  they  shall  maintain  just  moral 
sentiments,  and  such  conscientious  convictions  of  duty 
as  shall  control  the  heart  and  life,  we  may  have  the 
highest  hopes  of  the  future  fortunes  of  our  country ; 
....  but  if  we  and  our  posterity  reject  religious 
instruction  and  authority,  violate  the  rules  of  eternal 
justice,  trifle  with  the  injunctions  of  morality,  and 
recklessly  destroy  the  political  constitution  which 
holds  us  together,  no  man  can  tell  how  sudden  a 
catastrophe  may  overwhelm  us,  that  shall  bury  all 
our  glory  in  profound  obscurity. "f  These  are  among 
the  lessons  which  our  young  men  may  derive  from  the 
careful  study  of  the  works  of  Mr.  Webster ;  and  no 
wise  father  would  willingly  deprive  his  sons  of  the 
benefit  of  them. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  may  justify  us  in 
dwelling  a  little  longer  on  one  of  the  points  just  indi- 
cated— the  value  to  be  attached  to  the  life  and  writings 

*  Oration  for  Marcellus. 

■f  Mr.  Webster's  Address  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 


35 

of  this  great  publicist,  as  an  auxiliary  in  the  training 
of  our  future  statesmen.  There  are  able  men  amongst 
us  whose  faith  in  the  permanency  of  the  Union  appears 
to  be  nearly  as  firm  as  their  confidence  in  the  stability 
of  the  solar  system.  We  may  certainly  congratulate 
ourselves  that,  through  the  favour  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, our  complex  and  beautiful  scheme  of  government 
has  maintained  its  integrity  against  all  the  assaults 
hitherto  made  upon  it.  But  we  have  had  warnings 
enough  to  admonish  us  against  a  blind  self-confidence. 
Our  own  experience  forbids  us  to  look  for  any  exemp- 
tion from  those  intestine  broils  and  commotions  Avith 
which  all  other  nations  have  been  agitated.  In  a 
country  of  such  vast  extent,  increasing  in  population 
and  resources  with  a  rapidity  which  makes  a  new  atlas 
necessary  every  five  years,  with  the  utmost  diversity 
of  climate  and  productions,  conflicting  sectional  inte- 
rests, commercial  and  diplomatic  relations  spread  all 
over  the  globe,  thirty-one  jealous  and  pow^erful  state 
governments  closely  interlocked  with  a  grand  central 
administration,  and  sensitive  to  the  slightest  apparent 
invasion  of  their  sovereignty,  and  twenty-five  millions 
of  people  animated  by  an  energetic,  if  it  must  not  be 
said,  an  aggressive,  Gaiixiasian  spirit, — in  such  a  coun- 
try, occasions  for  discord  and  alienation  can  never  be 
wanting,  if  there  are  individuals  at  hand  whose  inte- 
rest it  is  to  find  or  create  them.  To  provide  for  these 
emergencies,  and  as  far  as  possible  prevent  or  mitigate 
them,  we  must  look  well  to  the  education,  mental 
and  moral,  of  our  youth.     The  church  and  the  school- 


36 

house — the  Bible  enthroned  in  both — must  be,  under 
God,  our  first  rehance.  Next  to  this,  we  need  states- 
men like  him  we  have  lost,  and  like  some  who  sur- 
vive him.  The  ambition  of  ordinary  minds  cannot 
soar  to  this  elevation.  Nor  can  the  most  generous 
intellects  attain  it  without  encountering  hostile  influ- 
ences, which  are  generated  by  the  natural  worl^ing  of 
our  institutions.  Where  office  depends  on  the  popular 
voice,  the  representative  will  find  himself  under  a  pow- 
erful temptation  to  merge  all  other  political  obligations 
in  his  supposed  duty  to  his  immediate  constituency. 
The  claims  of  his  district  will  take  precedence  over  those 
of  his  state ;  and  loyalty  to  his  state  will  be  stronger 
than  his  loyalty  to  the  general  government.  Nor  is  this 
the  only  adverse  agency  to  be  met.  A  despotism 
may  flourish  without  parties ;  for  the  dead  are  always 
still ;  but  no  free  government  has  ever  got  on  without 
them.  In  itself  this  is  an  advantage ;  but  the  prac- 
tical tendency  of  it  is  to  dwarf  men  into  partisans. 
They  are  apt  to  sink  both  their  individuality  and 
their  patriotism  in  servility  to  a  party,  and  to  employ 
those  powers  which  should  have  been  dedicated  to 
their  countr}^,  in  the  miserable  contests  of  factions 
and  sections. 

Here,  precisely,  in  the  ability  of  a  man  to  rise 
above  these  local  and  party  affinities — to  frame  his 
views  of  truth  and  duty  on  a  large  and  candid  survey 
of  things,  and  then  to  follow  out  his  convictions  irre- 
spective of  personal  consequences — lies  one  of  the 
essential  insignia  of  the  genuine  patriot  and  states- 


37 

man,  which  distmguish  him  from  the  mere  pretender. 
"  A  public  man  has  no  occasion  to  be  embarrassed,  if 
he  is  honest.  Himself  and  his  feelings  should  be  to 
him  as  nobody  and  as  nothing ;  the  interest  of  his 
country  must  be  to  him  as  everything ;  he  must  sink 
what  is  personal  to  himself,  making  exertions  for  his 
country ;  and  it  is  his  ability  and  readiness  to  do  this 
which  are  to  mark  him  as  a  great  or  a  little  man  in 
all  time  to  come."*  This  test,  it  must  be  admitted,  is 
a  very  severe  one.  The  moral  courage  and  self-immo- 
lation it  demands  are  alien  from  all  the  natural  in- 
stincts of  the  human  breast ;  and  if  political  honours 
and  emoluments  alone  are  regarded,  this  exalted  kind 
of  patriotism  will  find  but  too  little  to  nourish  it  in 
the  annals  of  our  race.  It  is  for  this  very  reason  we 
should  seize  upon  every  means  which  is  placed  within 
our  reach,  to  foster  and  diffuse  it.  And  in  this  view, 
what  a  legacy  has  the  Republic .  received  in  the  ex- 
ample and  the  writings  of  Daniel  Webster.  Without 
challenging  for  this  eminent  man  a  moral  perfection 
which  his  warmest  friends  have  never  claimed  for 
him,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  country  will 
not  yet  reap  from  his  services  even  greater  advantages 
than  those  he  conferred  ujDon  her  while  living.  Thei-e 
is  his  public  career — a  study  for  the  youth  of  America 
in  all  coming  time.  The  career  of  a  patriot-states- 
man, impressed  throughout  with  characters  of  light 
and  truth ;  not  like  a  huge  meteor  flashing  fantastic 
fires,    and   startling   the   nations   with   its   eccentric 

*  Mr.  Webster's  speech  at  Funeuil  Hall,  September  30tb,  1842. 


38 

motions,  but  like  a  mountain  stream,  swelling  by 
degrees  into  a  broad,  majestic  river,  spreading  fertility 
along  its  banks,  lending  beauty  to  the  landscape, 
ministering  health  and  comfort  and  prosperity  to 
numerous  populations,  and  bearing  on  its  tranquil 
bosom  the  products  of  many  climes  and  countries. 
Is  not  such  a  career  a  substantial  addition  to  the 
moral  wealth  of  the  nation  ?  Is  it  not  a  source  of 
strength  to  every  father  who  would  imbue  his  sons 
with  an  intelligent  and  comprehensive  love  of  country ; 
to  every  patriot  who  would  extinguish,  as  often  as 
they  reappear,  the  flames  of  sectional  jealousy ;  to 
every  constituency  that  may  be  exposed  to  the  arts 
of  aspiring  demagogues;  to  the  teachers  of  religion 
who  value  our  institutions  as  well  for  their  connexion 
with  a  pure  Christianity,  as  for  their  secular  benefits ; 
and  to  the  throng  of  young  men  always  ready  to 
launch  away  into  the  rough  sea  of  politics,  who  would 
fain  adopt,  before  starting,  some  wise  and  just  prin- 
ciples which  might  conduct  them  to  an  honourable,  if 
not  a  speedy,  fame  ?  One  thing,  at  least,  must  be 
conceded.  Mr.  Webster  has  made  it  more  difficult 
than  it  ever  was  before,  to  break  the  Union  to  pieces. 
And  that,  not  simply  by  his  masterly  exposition  of 
the  Constitution,  but  by  the  whole  influence  which 
attached  to  his  name  while  living,  and  which  now 
attaches  to  his  memory.  It  must  tell  with  power 
upon  the  country  for  generations  to  come,  that  he,  by 
common  consent,  the  first  American  jurist,  orator, 
and  statesman  of  his  day,  was  one  who,  throughout 


.39 

his  long  and  brilliant  career,  looked  steadfastly  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  ivIloIg  country ;  that  he  endeavoured 
to  allay  all  sectional  bickerings,  and  to  suppress  the 
misrepresentations  and  calumnies  which  engender 
them;  that  by  his  speeches  and  writings  he  sought 
to  make  the  different  portions  of  the  confederacy 
better  acquainted  with  each  other,  and  thus  to  abate 
their  mutual  antipathies ;  that  he  scorned  the  selfish 
provincial  ambition  which  would  use  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  well-meaning  but  misguided  people,  as  a 
ladder  to  mount  to  place  and  power ;  that  neither 
wholesale  slander  from  a  venal  press,  nor  the  threat- 
ened displeasure  of  his  own  commonwealth,  could 
deter  him  from  any  step  which  he  believed  to  be 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  Union ;  that  no  earthly 
consideration  could  tempt  him  to  swerve  from  his 
devotion  to  the  Constitution,  "the  only  bulwark  of 
our  liberties  and  of  our  national  character ;"  that  at  a 
great  crisis  of  our  affairs,  when  the  surges  of  Northern 
fanaticism  and  of  Southern  disunionism  broke  over 
him,  as  he  stood  up  in  the  Senate-chamber,  with  a 
simultaneous  and  common  fury,  the  only  effect  upon 
him  was  to  make  him  grasp  the  South  and  the  North 
with  a  firmer  hand,  while  he  poured  into  their  ears 
his  affectionate  and  eloquent  remonstrance,  "Let 
there  be  no  strife  between  you,  for  ye  are  brethren ;" 
and  that  when  his  patriotic  and  beneficent  career  was 
terminated,  men  of  all  parties  commingled  their  tears 
around  his  bier,  and  the  entire  nation  mourned  him 
as  a  public  benefactor,  the  motto  of  whose  life  had 


40 

been  that  sublime  sentiment,  now  doubly  "  dear  to 
every  true  American  heart — Liberty  and  Union,  now 

AND  FOR  EVER,  ONE  AND  INSEPARABLE  !" 

Before  passing  to  the  only  remaining  topic  I  pro- 
pose to  notice,  a  few  words  may  be  allowed  resjoecting 
the  private  character  of  the  deceased  senator.  It  has 
been  correctly  observed,  that "  distinguished  statesmen 
generally  become  what  may  be  called  technical  cha- 
racters :  the  whole  human  being  becomes  shaped  into 
an  official  thing,  and  Nature's  own  man,  with  free 
faculties,  and  warm  sentiments,  and  unconstrained 
manners,  has  disappeared."  It  was  not  so  with  Mr. 
Webster.  Nature  had  entrenched  herself  too  strongly 
in  that  colossal  frame,  to  be  driven  out,  and  he  re- 
mained "her  own  man"  to  the  end.  Persons  who 
only  saw  him  in  a  transient  way  might  suppose  he 
was  simply  a  man  of  extraordinary  intellect.  Those 
who  heard  him,  even  in  his  more  elaborate  efforts, 
could  not  fail  to  see  that  he  was  also  a  man  of  gene- 
rous sensibilities.  But  whoever  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  meet  him  in  social  life,  would  learn  that  so  far 
from  being  all  head,  he  had  a  heart  which  was 
worthy  to  be  the  consort  of  that  massive  intellect. 
Nothing  could  obliterate — nothing  even  blunt  his  ear- 
nest sympathy  with  nature  and  with  man.  Neither 
his  professional  toils  nor  affairs  of  state,  neither  the 
applause  nor  the  ingratitude  of  the  public,  could  dis- 
turb the  perennial  freshness  of  his  feelings.  He  loved 
the  country.  He  delighted  in  the  free  intercourse  of 
social  life.     His  domestic  affections  were  strong  and 


41 

tender.  He  entered  with  a  genial  relish  into  the 
vivacity  and  humour  of  the  passing  hour.  His  gene- 
rosity was  proverbial.  He  was  a  steadfast  friend — 
alwo-ys  frank,  straight-forward,  reliable — 

"A  minister,  but  still  a  man."* 


It  was  a  noble  eulogium  pronounced  upon  Mr. 
Clay,  the  second  of  our  great  triumvirate  who  was 
gathered  to  his  fathers,  when  a  representative  from 
his  own  State  said,  over  his  remains,  "  If  I  were  to 
write  his  epitaph,  I  would  inscribe,  as  the  highest 
eulogy,  on  the  stone  which  shall  mark  his  resting- 
place,  '  Here  lies  a  man  who  was  in  the  public  service 
for  fifty  years,  and  never  attempted  to  deceive  his 
countrymen !' "  The  inscription  might  with  equal 
fidelity  be  inscribed  ujDon  the  tombs  of  his  great  com- 
peers. Of  the  third  of  this  illustrious  trio,  Mr.  Web- 
ster himself  said,  before  the  Senate,  on  the  occasion 
of  his  funeral — 

"  He  had  the  basis — the  indispensable  basis — of  all 
high  character,  and  that  was  unspotted  integrity — 
unimpeached  honour  and  character.  If  he  had  aspi- 
rations, they  were  high,  and  honourable,  and  noble. 
There  was  nothing  grovelling,  or  low,  or  meanly 
selfish,  that  came  near  the  head  or  the  heart  of  Mr. 

*  Of  his  magnanimity  we  have  this  pleasing  example.  Mr.  Eve- 
rett relates,  that  in  preparing  the  new  edition  of  Mr.  Webster's 
works  for  the  press,  he  was  instructed  by  him  to  obliterate  from 
his  speeches,  if  practicable,  ''every  trace  of  personality." 


42 

Calhoun".  Firm  in  his  purpose,  perfectly  patriotic 
and  honest,  as  I  am  sure  he  was,  in  the  principles  he 
espoused,  and  in  the  measures  he  defended,  aside 
from  that  large  regard  for  that  species  of  distinction 
that  conducted  him  to  eminent  stations  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Republic,  I  do  not  believe  he  had  a  selfish 
motive  or  a  selfish  feeling. 

"  We  shall  hereafter,  I  am  sure,  indulge  in  it  as  a 
grateful  recollection  that  we  have  lived  in  his  age, 
that  we  have  been  his  cotemporaries,  that  we  have 
seen  him,  and  heard  him,  and  known  him.  We  shall 
delight  to  speak  of  him  to  those  who  are  rising  up 
to  fill  our  places.  And  when  the  time  shall  -come 
when  we  ourselves  shall  go,  one  after  another,  in 
succession  to  our  graves,  we  shall  carry  with  us  a 
deep  sense  of  his  genius  and  character,  his  honour 
and  integrity,  his  amiable  deportment  in  private  life, 
and  the  purity  of  his  exalted  patriotism." 

Mr.  Webster  himself  might  have  sat  for  this  fine 
portrait.  It  is  his  own  character  by  a  master-hand. 
If  the  fidelity  of  the  sketch  be  doubted,  there  are 
competent  witnesses  to  confirm  it.  "  Mr.  President," 
said  a  leading  member*  of  the  New  York  Bar  the 
other  day,  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian;  "I  have 
long  been  acquainted  with  Mr.  Webster,  and  from  all 
that  I  know,  and  from  all  that  I  have  seen  and  heard, 
I  bear  testimony  here  to-day,  that  as  a  public  man, 
he  was  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity.  It  always 
seemed  to  me  as  if  he  acted  under  the  immediate 

*  Hiram  Ketchum,  Esq. 


43 

conviction,  that  whatever  he  did  was  not  only  to  be 
known  to  his  own  generation,  but  to  posterity.  He 
regarded  political  power  in  his  own  hands  as  a  trust, 
and  though  always  willing  and  desirous  to  gratify  his 
friends,  if  he  could,  he  never  felt  himself  at  liberty, 
for  an  instant,  for  any  private  means,  to  violate  his 
great  trust.  I  have  known  Mr.  Webster  in  private 
circles,  and  in  domestic  life,  and  I  bear  testimony 
here  to-day,  that  though  I  have  received  multitudes 
of  letters  from  him  which  I  now  have,  and  many  that 
have  been  destroyed  by  his  orders,  written  in  the 
most  confidential  and  friendly  manner — though  I 
have  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  on  many  occa- 
sions, and  at  the  festive  board  often  where  our  ses- 
sions have  been  long — I  bear  testimony  here  to-day, 
that  never  in  my  life  did  I  hear  an  improper  thought 
or  profane  expression  come  from  the  lips  of  Daniel 
Webster;  and  I  bear  further  testimony,  that  never, 
in  writing  or  in  my  hearing,  did  he  ever  assail  private 
character.  No  man  was  ever  slandered — no  man  was 
ever  spoken  ill  of  by  Daniel  Webster.  And  I  further 
bear  testimony,  that  never  in  my  life  have  I  known 
a  man  whose  conversation  was  uniformly  so  unexcep- 
tionable in  its  tone,  and  uniformly  so  edifying  in  its 
character.  I  may  say  further,  that  no  man  ever 
possessed  greater  tenderness  of  feeling.  He  never 
yet  had  an  enemy — and  we  all  can  bear  witness  that 
he  had  enemies  of  the  most  malignant  character 
— but  he  never  yet  had  an  enemy  that  if  he  came  to 
him  he  would  not  have  shared  with  him  his  last 


44 

dollar  to  relieve  him,  and  mingle  his  sympathies  with 
his.  Mr.  President,  to  say  that  these  virtues  were 
not  marked  with  failings — to  say  that  Daniel  Webster 
was  without  them,  would  be  to  state  that  which  was 
untrue ;  but  they  have  been  before  the  public  again 
and  again,  and  no  friend  of  his  could  regret  the  fact, 
if  they  had  not  been  exaggerated." 

Another  distinguished  lawyer^  of  that  city  said  :  "  I 
knew  Mr.  Webster  well.  I  had  the  honour  of  his 
acquaintance,  and  hope  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  of 
his  friendship,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  from  his  lips  I  never  have  heard  an  irreverent, 
a  profane,  or  an  unseemly  expression,  while  his  play- 
ful wit,  his  deep  philosophy,  his  varied  acquirements, 
and  unrivalled  powers  of  conversation,  are  among  the 
richest  treasures  of  my  recollection." 

These  testimonies,  comprising,  as  they  do,  a  minute 
scrutiny  into  the  social  habits  of  Mr.  Webster  for  a 
long  term  of  years,  such  as  few  men  of  any  profession 
could  bear,  will  do  much  to  vindicate  his  reputation 
from  the  aspersions  cast  upon  it  by  a  malign  party 
spirit.  It  is,  however,  the  letters  of  great  men  which 
best  reflect  their  personal  traits ;  and  we  must  wait 
for  his  private  correspondence  before  we  can  properly 
appreciate  those  generous  qualities  which  have  been 
attributed  to  him.  Judging  from  the  specimens  which 
have  been  published,  his  letters,  when  collected,  will 
not  only  form  one  of  the  most  attractive  volumes  in 
the  language,  but  will  amply  authenticate  the  warm- 

*  J,  Prescott  Hall,  Esq. 


45 

est  encomiums  his  friends  have  pronounced  upon  his 
private  virtues.  Notice,  for  example,  the  strain  of 
his  reply  to  the  letter  he  received  two  years  ago  from 
a  large  number  of  his  old  friends  and  neighbours  in 
New  Hampshire,  in  which  he  says,  "  I  could  pour  out 
my  heart  in  tenderness  of  feeling  for  the  affectionate 
letter  Avhich  comes  from  3'ou.  It  is  like  the  love  of  a 
family  circle ;  its  influences  fall  upon  my  heart  as 
the  dew  of  heaven."  So,  again,  the  letter  on  his 
early  life,  in  which  he  describes  the  paternal  farm, 
and  narrates  the  circumstances  which  induced  his 
father  to  send  him  to  college,  "  in  order,"  as  one  of 
his  brothers  used  to  say,  "  to  make  him  equal  to  the 
rest  of  the  children."  In  this  letter  he  makes  a  touch- 
ing allusion  to  the  dead  of  the  household. 

"  Looking  out  at.  the  east  windows,  [the  letter  is 
dated  at  Franklin,  May  3d,  1846',]  at  this  moment 
(2  p.  M.)  with  a  beautiful  sun  just  breaking  out,  my 
eye  sweeps  a  rich  and  level  field  of  one  hundred  acres. 
At  the  end  of  it,  a  third  of  a  mile  off,  I  see  plain  mar- 
ble grave-stones,  designating  the  places  where  repose 
my  father,  my  mother,  my  brother  Joseph,  and  my 
sisters,  Mehi  table,  Abigail,  and  Sarah,  good  Scripture 
names  inherited  from  their  Puritan  ancestors. 

''  My  father !  Ebenezer  Webster ! — born  at  Kingston, 
in  the  low^er  part  of  the  State,  in  1739 — the  hand- 
somest man  I  ever  saw,  except  my  brother  Ezekiel, 
who  appeared  to  me,  and  so  does  he  now  seem  to  me, 
the  very  finest  human  form  that  ever  I  laid  eyes  on. 
I  saw  him  in  his  coffin — a  white  forehead — a  tinged 


46 

cheek — a  complexion  as  clear  as  heavenly  light !  But 
where  am  I  straying?  The  grave  has  closed  upon 
him,  as  it  has  on  all  my  brothers  and  sisters.  We 
shall  soon  be  all  together.  But  this  is  melancholy, 
and  I  leave  it.  Dear — dear  kindred  hlood,  how  I  Jove 
you  all  r 

There  is  another  affecting  allusion  to  these  graves, 
in  that  inimitable  letter  written  to  his  farmer  at  Frank- 
lin, from  Washington,  in  March  last,  and  beginning 
thus  : — "John  Taylor — Go  ahead.  The  heart  of  the 
winter  is  broken,  and  before  the  first  day  of  April,  all 
your  land  may  be  ploughed."  Then  in  the  midst  of 
minute  agricultural  directions,  comes  in  this  beautiful 
and  characteristic  sentence  : — "  Take  care  to  keep  my 
mothers  garden  in  good  order,  even  if  it  cost  you  the 
wages  of  a  man  to  take  care  of  it."  The  letter  closes 
thus  : — "  John  Taylor,  thank  God,  morning  and  even- 
ing, that  you  were  born  in  such  a  country.  John 
Taylor,  never  write  me  another  word  upon  politics. 
Give  my  kindest  remembrances  to  your  wife  and  chil- 
dren ;  and  when  you  look  from  your  eastern  windows 
upon  the  graves  of  my  family,  remember  that  he  who 
is  the  author  of  this  letter  must  soon  follow  them  to 
another  world." 

It  is  in  familiar  epistles  like  these  we  see  the  heart 
of  the  great  statesman  laid  open :  and  the  more  fully 
it  is  unveiled,  the  more  opulent  will  it  be  found  in 
those  affections  and  sympathies,  which  are  rarely  com- 
bined with  the  highest  abilities,  and  as  rarely  outlast 
the  cares  and  collisions  of  a  long  political  career. 


47 

His  devotion  to  agriculture  has  been  hinted  at :  and 
rural  occupations  always  have  a  tendency  to  keep  up 
a  healthful  tone  of  feeling.  But  his  communings  were 
not  all  with  nature.     He  was  like  Cowley  : — 

"  Ah,  yet,  ere  I  descend  to  the  grave, 
May  I  a  small  house  and  large  garden  have  ! 
And  a  few  friends  and  many  books,  both  true. 

Both  wise,  and  both  delightful  too  !" 

The  '  large  garden,'  the '  friends/  (though  not  a '  few') 
and  the  '  many  books,'  he  had ;  and  well  did  he  use 
them.  The  love  of  books  was  an  early  passion  with 
him.  He  could  recite  the  whole  Essay  on  Man  ver- 
batim before  he  was  fourteen  years  old.  And  while 
still  a  boy,  he  committed  to  memory,  not  as  a  task, 
but  as  a  pleasure,  Watts's  Psalms  and  Hymns.  Nor 
was  he  less  fond  of  the  sublime  poetry  of  the  Bible. 
These  habits  continued  with  him  throu2;h  life.  A 
very  competent  authority  has  remarked,  that  "  the 
celebrity  of  Lord  Mansfield  and  Lord  Stowell,  as  judges, 
is  in  no  small  degree  owing  to  their  having  continued 
to  refresh  and  to  embellish  their  professional  labours 
by  perusing  the  immortal  productions  of  poets,  histo- 
rians, and  moralists."  Mr.  AVebster  pursued  the  same 
course  and  with  the  same  results.  The  ancient  and 
modern  Classics  were,  with  the  Bible,  his  daily  com- 
panions. His  capacious  mind  was  a  store-house  of 
useful  and  elegant  learning,  gathered  from  every 
source — from  books,  from  careful  observation  of  men 
and  things,  from  a  ripe  experience  and  much  reflec- 


48 

tion.  Tliis  various  and  ample  knowledge  was  so  di- 
gested and  arranged  as  to  be  always  at  his  command. 
He  could  employ  it  with  equal  facility  to  instruct  and 
amuse  the  social  circle,  to  compose,  if  occasion  required 
it,  a  Historical  Discourse,  which  should  astonish  the 
country  at  the  minuteness  and  accuracy  of  his  classi- 
cal lore,  or  to  enrich  his  speeches  with  those  graceful 
allusions  and  illustrations  which  are  to  an  elaborate 
argument  what  the  drapery  is  to  the  portrait,  and  the 
feather  to  the  shaft.  Let  the  young  men  of  his  profes- 
sion profit  by  this  example.  No  mind  can  be  fed  exclu- 
sively on  law,  without  suffering.  Nature  will  be  certain 
to  resent  the  huge  indignity.  He  who  would  rise  above 
the  penury  of  the  mere  pleader,  must  have  at  least  a 
sprinkling  of  books  in  his  library,  which  are  not  bound 
in  the  canonical  hue — some  relief  to  the  dismal  mono- 
tony. Lord  Eldon,  it  is  true,  might  be  cited,  as  an 
adverse  precedent :  for  he  once  astonished  the  Bar,  it 
is  said,  by  telling  them  that,  during  the  long  vacation, 
he  had  read  "  Paradise  Lost.^'  But  it  should  be  added 
that  nature  took  her  revenge  even  upon  a  Lord  Chan- 
cellor ;  since,  according  to  Lord  Campbell,  towards  the 
close  of  life,  he  could  scarcely  speak  or  write  gram- 
matically. Whatever  a  man  s  profession,  the  only 
way  in  which  he  can  elude  the  tendency  to  become  a 
narrow,  technical,  stereotype  character,  is  to  go  forth 
occasionally  into  regions  which  lie  beyond  his  daily 
walks ;  to  talk  with  people  of  other  creeds  and  other 
callings ;  to  make  excursions  into  the  domain  of  science, 
and  to  appropriate  some  portion  of  his  time,  even  if  it  be 


49 

but  its  brief  remnants  and  parentheses,  to  literary  pur- 
suits. The  error  of  those  who  neglect  this,  is  only  less 
pernicious  than  that  which  they  fall  into,  who  degrade 
their  'profession  to  a  secondary  place,  and  bestow  their 
chief  care  upon  other  studies.  We  honour  literature  in 
a  Lawj^er,  a  Physician,  or  a  Divine ;  but  we  cease  to 
honour  it  when  it  becomes  paramount.  The  noblest 
forensic  arguments 

"  May  flow  from  lips  wet  with  Castalian  dews :" 

but  Benches  and  Juries  would  be  very  impatient  of  an 
advocate  whose  speeches  should  sparkle  with  Castalian 
dews — and  with  nothing  else.  And,  certainly,  any 
congregation  would  be  warranted  in  dismissing  a  pastor 
who  should  habitually  substitute  literary  essays  for 
the  Gospel  of  Christ. — But  it  is  time  to  return  from 
this  digression. 

Undoubtedly  Mr.  Webster  had  his  failings;  and 
with  some  minds  of  a  peculiar  cast,  these  may  even 
make  it  a  matter  of  doubtful  expediency  to  comment 
upon  his  character  from  the  pulpit.  It  were  certainly 
dehghtful  could  we  dwell  on  his  life  and  services  with- 
out making  any  deduction  for  personal  defects.  What- 
ever those  defects  were,  they  will  find  no  vindication 
here.  But  neither  shall  they  be  exaggerated  here. 
Exaggerated  they  doubtless  have  been,  for  such  is  the 
evil  custom  of  the  country.  We  have  got  it  by  inhe- 
ritance. In  one  of  his  shrewd  and  caustic  letters  from 
England,  Voltaire  observes,  "  So  violent  did  I  find  par- 

4 


ties  in  London,  that  I  was  assured  by  several,  that  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough  was  a  coward,  and  Mr.  Pope  a 
fool."  If  we  may  trust  the  partisan  press  of  the  Union, 
we  seldom  have  a  citizen  nominated  for  any  of  the 
chief  trusts  of  the  government,  who  is  not  a  fool,  a 
coward,  or  a  drunkard.  An  eminent  civilian  whose 
virtues  adorn  every  domestic  and  social  relation,  re- 
marked in  his  place  in  the  Senate  a  few  months  since, 
that  when  his  name  was  before  the  country  as  a  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency,  he  was  charged  with  every 
crime  except  one  mentioned  in  the  decalogue.  It  is 
an  indelible  stigma  upon  the  national  character,  that 
the  freedom  of  the  press  should  be  permitted  to  de- 
generate into  this  intolerable  licentiousness.  How 
much  of  injustice  the  illustrious  man  whom  Providence 
has  taken  from  us,  may  have  suffered  in  this  way,  I 
know  not :  that  he  encountered  his  full  share  of  de- 
traction, will  be  conceded  by  all  who  are  willing  to 
judge  others  as  they  would  be  judged  themselves.  For 
myself,  I  have  no  sympathy  with  those  persons  who 
when  the  sun  is  mentioned,  can  think  only  of  his 
spots.  I  can  take  no  pleasure  in  dwelling  on  the  al- 
leged frailties  of  a  man  like  Daniel  Webster.  I  choose 
rather  to  leave  them  where  all  our  errors  and  delin- 
quencies must  be  left,  and  to  dwell  on  those  aspects  of 
his  character  and  life  which  are  stamped  with  true  ex- 
cellence and  genuine  sublimity,  and  which  entitle  him 
to  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  American  people. 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  know  that  the  convic- 
tions I  entertain  on  this  point,  are  shared  by  those  gen- 


51 

tlemen  whose  official  pastoral  relations  to  him  give  a 
peculiar  value  to  their  opinions.  And  I  feel  with  them 
that  the  friends  of  religion  may  cherish  a  just  pride  in 
appealing  to  the  numerous  testimonies  he  has  left  to 
the  truth  and  efficacy  of  the  Christian  system.* 

Any  attempt,  indeed,  to  estimate  Mr.  Webster's  cha- 
racter and  labours,  which  should  omit  or  disparage  this 
element,  would  be  radically  defective.  He  himself 
said  with  great  truth  and  beauty,  in  announcing  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  the  death  of  Jere- 
miah Masonf — "  Religion  is  a  necessary  and  indispen- 
sable element  in  any  great  human  character.  There 
is  no  living  without  it.  Religion  is  the  tie  that  con- 
nects man  with  his  Creator,  and  holds  him  to  his 
throne.     If  that  tie  be  sundered,  all  broken,  he  floats 

*  I  shall  violate  no  confidence  by  publishing  the  following  para- 
graph from  a  letter  I  have  received  from  my  old  school-fellow  and 
valued  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Butler,  of  Washington  : — "  I  do  believe 
that  Mr.  Webster  was  a  truly  converted  and  religious  man.  He 
was  for  more  than  five  years  a  communicant  in  my  Church,  and  al- 
ways treated  me,  as  his  Pastor,  with  great  afi"ection,  attention,  and 
respect.  His  conduct  in  church  was  very  reverent.  His  interest  in 
solemn  and  direct  preaching  was  very  evident;  his  emotions  often 
manifest;  his  dislike  of  flummery  and  pretension  in  the  pulpit  in- 
tense; his  love  of  clear,  strong,  personal,  aiFectionate  presentation  of 
the  most  distinguishing  and  important  truths  of  the  Gospel,  propor- 
tionably  warm.  His  conversation  with  me  was  more  frequently  than 
that  of  most  religious  men,  on  religious  subjects.  He  never  left  the 
Church  on  Communion  Sundays  without  coming  to  the  communion; 
and  his  participation  of  that  sacrament  was  marked  with  a  peculiar 
concentration  and  solemnity  of  feeling." 
t  November  14,  1848. 


away,  a  Avorthless  atom  in  the  universe ;  its  proper  at- 
tractions all  gone,  its  destiny  thwarted,  and  its  whole 
future  nothing  but  darkness,  desolation,  and  death.  A 
man  with  no  sense  of  religious  duty  is  he  whom  the 
Scriptures  describe  in  such  terse  but  terrific  language, 
as  living  ''  without  God  in  the  world,'  Such  a  man 
is  out  of  his  proper  being,  out  of  the  circle  of  all  his 
duties,  out  of  the  circle  of  all  his  happiness,  and  away, 
far,  far  away  from  the  purposes  of  his  creation." 

These  were  no  words  of  idle  compliment.  They 
were  convictions  inwrought  in  the  very  framework  of 
his  being.  The  Bible  was  one  of  the  books  on  which 
his  childhood  had  been  nurtured.  He  continued  a 
diligent  student  of  it  through  life.  He  said  to  a  friend 
a  few  years  since,  "  I  have  read  through  the  entire 
Bible  many  times.  I  now  make  a  practice  to  go 
through  it  once  a  year.  It  is  the  book  of  all  others 
for  Lawyers  as  well  as  for  Divines  5  and  I  pity  the 
man  that  cannot  find  in  it  a  rich  supply  of  thought 
and  of  rules  for  his  conduct :  it  fits  man  for  life — it 
prepares  him  for  death."  This  reminds  one  of  Fisher 
Ames,  who  once  said,  perhaps  with  too  little  qualifica- 
tion :  "  I  will  hazard  the  assertion  that  no  man  ever 
did,  or  ever  will,  become  truly  eloquent  without  being 
a  constant  reader  of  the  Bible,  and  an  admirer  of  the 
purity  and  sublimity  of  its  language."  It  was  not, 
however,  with  either  of  these  eminent  men  a  mere 
professional  exercise.  It  w^as  one  of  the  most  potent 
agencies  in  moulding  them  to  that  robust  intellectual 
and  moral  structure  by  which  they  were  distinguished. 


A  profound  veneration  for  the  Deity,  blended  with  a 
cordial  and  generous  recognition  of  Christianity,  per- 
vades Mr.  Webster's  writings  beyond  those  of  almost 
any  contemporaneous  statesman.  It  is  not  a  meagre 
and  reluctant  acknowledgment  of  the  scheme  of  natu- 
ral religion.  He  well  knew  that  this  was  no  sufficient 
remedy  for  the  evils  of  the  fall.  He  regarded  man  as 
a  lost  sinner,  in  need  of  a  Saviour  ;  and  no  system  of 
faith  could  satisfy  him,  that  did  not  provide  a  Saviour. 
It  is  the  Gospel  of  Christ  which  so  often  reveals  itself 
in  his  speeches  and  correspondence,  as  the  theme  of 
emphatic  allusion  or  of  eloquent  eulogy.  It  is  evan- 
gelical Christianity,  as  supplying  at  once  the  only  solid 
foundation  for  man  to  rest  his  immortal  hopes  upon, 
and  the  only  sure  guarantee  of  national  freedom  and 
happiness. 

This  point  is  of  too  much  importance  to  be  dismissed 
without  exhibiting  Mr.  Webster's  method  of  dealing 
with  revealed  religion.  The  following  paragraphs  are 
taken  (with  some  abridgment)  from  one  of  his  legal 
arguments ;  and  the  tone  of  them,  as  indeed  the  tone  of 
the  whole  speech,  is  such  as  must  carry  conviction  to 
the  mind,  that  it  is  no  less  the  man  than  the  advocate 
who  is  speaking : 

"  The  ground  taken  is,  that  religion  is  not  necessary 
to  morality ;  that  benevolence  may  be  insured  by  habit, 
and  that  all  the  virtues  may  flourish  and  be  safely  left 
to  the  chance  of  flourishing,  without  touching  the  wa- 
ters of  the  living  spring  of  religious  responsibility. 
With  him  who  thinks  thus,  what  can  be  the  value  of 


64 

the  Christian  revelation  ?  So  the  Christian  world  has 
not  thought,  for  with  that  Christian  world,  throughout 
its  broadest  extent,  it  has  been  and  is  held  as  a  funda- 
mental truth,  that  religion  is  the  only  solid  basis  of 
morals,  and  that  moral  instruction,  not  resting  on  this 
basis,  is  only  a  building  upon  sand."  "  When  little 
children  were  brought  into  the  presence  of  the  Son  of 
God,  his  disciples  proposed  to  send  them  away ;  but  he 
said,  '  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me' — unto 
me ;  he  did  not  send  them  first  for  lessons  in  morals 
to  the  schools  of  the  Pharisees  or  to  the  unbeheving 
Sadducees,  nor  to  read  the  precepts  and  lessons  pliy- 
lacteried  on  the  garments  of  the  Jewish  priesthood ;  he 
said  nothing  of  different  creeds  or  clashing  doctrines ; 
but  he  opened  at  once  to  the  youthful  mind  the  ever- 
lasting fountain  of  living  waters,  the  only  source  of 
immortal  truths ;  '  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto 
me!  And  that  injunction  is  of  perpetual  obligation. 
It  addresses  itself  to-day  with  the  same  earnestness 
and  the  same  authority  which  attended  its  first  utter- 
ance to  the  Christian  world.  It  is  of  force  everywhere 
and  at  all  times.  It  extends  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
it  will  reach  to  the  end  of  time,  always  and  every- 
where sounding  in  the  ears  of  men  with  an  emphasis 
which  no  repetition  can  weaken,  and  with  an  autho- 
rity which  nothing  can  supersede — '  Suffer  little  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  me.' 

"And  not  only  my  heart  and  my  judgment,  my  be- 
lief and  my  conscience,  instruct  me  that  this  great  pre- 
cept should  be  obeyed,  but  the  idea  is  so  sacred,  the 


65 

solemn  thoughts  connected  with  it  so  crowd  upon  me, 
it  is  so  utterly  at  variance  with  this  system  of  philoso- 
phical morality  which  we  have  heard  advocated,  that 
I  stand  and  speak  here  in  fear  of  being  influenced  by 
my  feelings  to  exceed  the  proper  line  of  my  profes- 
sional duty."* 

In  keeping  with  this  fine  passage,  is  that  impressive 
announcement  to  the  Court,  of  Mr.  Mason's  death,  al- 
ready cited,  in  the  course  of  w^hich  he  quotes  wdth  ap- 
probation an  account  of  the  religious  exercises  of  the 
deceased  jurist,  such  as  is  rarely  heard  in  our  halls  of 
Justice.  "  He  w^as  fully  aware  that  his  end  was  near ; 
and  in  answ^er  to  the  question,  ^Can  you  now  rest 
with  firm  faith  upon  the  merits  of  your  Divine  Re- 
deemer ?'  He  said,  '^  I  trust  I  do  :  upon  what  else  can 
I  rest  ?' — At  another  time,  in  reply  to  a  similar  ques- 
tion, he  said,  '  Of  course,  I  have  no  other  ground  of 
hope.' "  If  I  mistake  not,  there  is  something  remarka- 
ble in  this.  It  is  not  in  the  usual  style  of  these  an- 
nouncements. There  is  no  censoriousness  in  saying 
that  very  few  of  the  men  who  stand  in  the  front  rank 
of  the  Profession,  would  have  ventured  upon  it.  But 
Mr.  Webster  could  do  it  without  scruple  or  embarrass- 
ment. It  was  as  natural  for  him  to  do  it,  as  it  w^ould 
have  been  for  most  of  his  associates  to  confine  them- 
selves to  the  more  cautious  formularies,  which  custom 
has  prescribed  as  the  official  costume  of  Christianity, 
when  she  enters  the  Forum  or  the  Senate.  It  was 
nothing  for  liim  to  speak  of  a  "  Redeemer,"  and  of 

*  Argument  in  the  Girard  Will  Case. 


56 

salvation  through  his  blood.  It  was  nothing  for  1dm 
to  stand  up  in  the  presence  of  the  Massachusetts  Bar, 
and  narrate  to  them  how  one,  at  whose  feet  they 
would,  any  of  them,  have  been  willing  to  sit,  and  at 
whose  feet  many  of  them  had  sat,  as  learners,  utterly 
renounced,  when  he  came  to  die,  all  dependence  upon 
the  virtues  which  adorned  his  character,  and  trusted 
for  pardon  only  to  the  merits  of  Christ.  The  religion 
which  centres  in  the  Cross,  had  not  only  formed  the 
groundwork  of  his  Puritan  training,  but  was,  as  his 
brethren  well  knew,  one  of  his  favourite  and  familiar 
studies  through  life.  Its  sublime  doctrines  opened  to 
him  a  field  in  which  his  majestic  powers  loved  to  ex- 
patiate. Its  consolations  met  the  moral  necessities  of 
his  nature.  It  was  congenial  to  the  grandeur  of  his 
imagination,  which  it  nerved  for  its  loftiest  flights.  It 
was  in  sympathy  with  the  tenderness  of  his  heart.  A 
rigid,  or  even  a  tolerant,  casuist  might  not  find  its  foot- 
prints just  where  he  required  them.  Some  important 
indications  of  its  presence,  it  must  be  conceded,  were 
not  there  as  they  ought  to  have  been.  He  had  not 
escaped — what  public  man  does  escape  ? — the  moth 
and  the  rust  with  which  a  political  life  eats  in  upon 
religious  principle  and  religious  habits.*  But  it  does 
not  admit  of  argument  as  to  where  his  convictions 

*  There  are  exceptions.  A  very  signal  one  in  our  own  annals 
was  once  characterized  by  Mr.  Webster  himself,  in  terms  so  beauti- 
ful that  I  cannot  forbear  copying  the  sentence  : — '^  When  the  spot- 
less ermine  of  the  judicial  robe  fell  on  John  Jay,  it  touched  nothing 

not  as  spotless  as  itself." 


57 

were,  where  his  desires  were,  where  his  endeavours 
were.  Looking  at  him  as  a  whole,  it  was  ajDparent 
that  he  must  have  grown  up  in  a  healthful  moral  at- 
mosphere— an  atmosphere  as  fresh  and  bracing  for  his 
mental  and  moral  nature,  as  the  clear  air  and  Alpine 
scenery  of  New  Hampshire  had  been  for  his  physical 
man.  Daniel  \Vebster  never  could  have  been  what 
he  was,  nor  anything  approximating  to  what  he  was — 
still  less  could  he  have  acquired  his  acknowledged  as- 
cendency over  the  minds  of  his  countrymen — had  he 
been  an  infidel  or  even  an  indilBferentist  in  religion. 
Those  who  would  discover  the  secret  of  his  strength — 
at  least  one  secret  of  his  strength — will  find  it  in  his 
systematic,  thorough,  and  affectionate  study  of  the 
Scriptures.  How  it  produced  its  effects  upon  his  in- 
tellectual powers,  his  temper  and  disposition,  his  juris- 
prudence, his  statesmanship,  and  the  whole  tone  and 
cast  of  his  public  labours,  not  to  speak  of  his  faultless 
style,  it  might  not,  perhaps,  be  difficult  to  show  if  the 
time  would  permit.  But  it  must  suffice  to  observe, 
on  one  single  point,  that  there  is  an  obvious  logical 
connexion  between  that  habit  of  mind  which  fitted 
him  to  grapple  with  the  most  complex  questions,  and 
to  take  the  most  comprehensive  views  of  every  subject, 
and  those  profound  meditations  on  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  Jehovah,  and  the  relations  and  destiny  of  the 
soul,  with  which  he  was  so  often  occupied.  Those 
who  value  our  Constitution  and  who  desire  the  perpe- 
tuity of  the  Union,  have  great  reason  to  bless  God 
that  Daniel  Webster  Icxved  and  studied  the  Bible.  And 
it  is  not  the  least  of  the  glories  which  cluster  around 


58 

his  character,  that  whether  before  the  Bar  of  Massa- 
chusetts, or  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
whether  in  the  august  presence  of  the  Senate,  or  in  the 
midst  of  an  excited  popular  assemblage,  he  was  never 
ashamed  to  avow  his  belief  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

Here  is  one  of  the  great  lessons  to  be  derived  from 
his  life — the  greatest,  indeed,  of  all.  He  is  but  a 
careless  observer  of  society,  who  has  not  detected  the 
encroachments  of  infidelity  among  the  educated  young 
men  of  the  country  within  the  last  few  years.  It 
comes  in  a  captivating  form.  The  ribaldry  of  Paine 
and  Voltaire  would  excite  disgust.  The  metaphysi- 
cal Pyrrhonism  of  Hume  would  be  too  abstruse.  Three 
other  schemes  are  invented  better  adapted  to  the 
times.  One  is  the  theory  of  progressive  development, 
which  has  been  born  and  baptized  within  the  Church. 
The  second  is  a  subtle  and  sjDCcious  rationalism,  which 
has  been  transplanted  from  Germany.  And  the  third 
is  a  gorgeous  Pantheism  from  the  same  hot-bed  of 
error.  These  systems  all  breathe  a  complaisant  lan- 
guage towards  Christianity,  while  each  is  in  its  own 
way  sapping  its  foundations.  Without  undertaking 
to  apportion  to  each  its  specific  agency  in  producing 
the  result,  the  fact  is  indisputable,  that  many  of  the 
rising  authors  and  professional  men  of  the  country 
are  tinctured  with  a  supercilious  scepticism.  Inflated 
by  a  spurious  philosophy — "  philosophy  falsely  so 
called" — they  have  come  to  regard  Christianity  as  a 
sort  of  obsolete  system,  which  has  served  its  purpose, 
and  must  now  be  laid  upon  the  shelf  It  may  still 
enlist  the  sufirages  of  the  common  people,  but  educated 


59 

men  demand  a  system  less  humiliating  in  its  personal 
requisitions,  and  more  in  keeping  with  the  general 
progress  of  the  world  ! 

Now  is  it  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  be  able  to  send 
these  Solons  to  a  man  like  Daniel  Webster  ?  Scio- 
lists as  they  often  are  in  literature,  and  always  in 
sacred  learning,  let  them  sit  down  to  the  perusal  of 
his  works,  and  brand  with  puerility  or  fanaticism 
those  noble  passages  scattered  throughout  every  vo- 
lume, in  which  lie  bows  before  the  majesty  of  a  per- 
sonal and  holy  God,  or  extols  the  evangelical  faith  as 
the  only  hope  of  a  lost  world.  They  dare  not  do 
this,  even  though  they  refuse  to  follow  in  his  steps. 
Pride  or  prejudice  may  impair  the  just  influence  of 
his  example  upon  them,  but  it  will  not  be  lost  upon 
others  who  have  not  yet  plunged  into  the  abyss  of 
Atheism.  Nor  does  Webster  stand  alone.  It  is  aus- 
picious for  the  country,  and  honourable  to  their 
memories,  that  our  three  leading  statesmen  who  have 
lately  gone  down  to  the  tomb,  were  all  arrayed  on 
the  side  of  Christianity.  A  single  testimony  from 
one  of  them,  whose  oratory  rang  for  forty  years  through 
the  country  like  the  notes  of  a  silver  trumpet,  is  all 
it  may  be  requisite  to  cite.  "  Man's  inability,"  said 
Mr.  Clay,*  shortly  before  his  death,  "  to  secure  by  his 
own  merits  the  approbation  of  God,  I  feel  to  be  true. 
I  trust  in  the  atonement  of  the  Saviour  of  men,  as 
the  ground  of  my  acceptance,  and  my  hope  of  salva- 
tion.    My  faith  is  feeble,  but  I  hope  in  his  mercy  and 

*  To  Mr.  Yenable. 


60 

trust  in  his  promises."  There  is  a  power  in  utterances 
like  these  which  must  be  felt.  Christianity,  it  is  true, 
stands  in  no  need  of  human  props.  Its  buttresses  are 
strong  enough  to  defy — as  for  eighteen  hundred  years 
they  have  defied — the  assaults  of  malice  and  envy,  of 
unsanctified  learning  and  audacious  ignorance,  of 
kingcraft  and  priestcraft,  and  whatever  other  weapons 
earth  or  hell  may  forge  against  her.  But  it  may  help 
to  arm  the  ingenuous  youth  of  our  country  against 
the  seductions  of  unbelief,  to  remember  that  such 
men  as  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster — not  to  cite 
a  cloud  of  other  witnesses  from  the  brightest  pages  in 
our  national  annals, — gave  their  deliberate  testimony 
through  life  to  the  Divine  authority  of  the  Christian 
religion,  and  at  death  committed  their  souls  to  Jesus 
Christ  as  their  Redeemer. 

Various  conflicting  statements  have  been  published 
respecting  the  closing  scenes  of  Mr.  Webster's  life. 
From  some  of  these  it  might  be  supposed  that  his 
mind  was  occupied  with  politics  almost  to  the  end.  I 
am  happy  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  correct  these 
impressions.  What  I  am  about  to  state  rests  on  the 
very  best  authority. 

Mr.  Webster,  then,  for  at  least  two  weeks  before 
his  death,  might  almost  be  said  to  have  made  no 
allusion  to  politics  whatever.  He  neither  conversed 
on  the  subject,  nor  gave  the  slightest  indication  that 
his  thoughts  were  directed  to  it.  On  the  contrary, 
his  whole  mind  and  his  Avhole  time  were  given  "  to 
his  affections  and  his  duties," — to  his  domestic  and 
social   sympathies,    and    his   preparation   for   death. 


61 

Beyond  the  circle  of  his  family  and  friends,  his 
thoughts  were  not  of  earth,  but  of  heaven.  Politics 
and  every  other  temporal  interest  were  banished, 
and  his  whole  concern  was  with  the  things  of  eter- 
nity. During  this  period  he  referred  to  a  purpose  he 
had  long  entertained,  of  j)reparing  a  work  on  the 
Evidences  of  Christianity ;  and  after  expressing  the 
conviction  that  he  ought  to  leave  behind  him  some 
testimon}^  of  this  kind,  he  set  about  writing  a  state- 
ment of  Ids  faith  in  the  Christian  religion,  icith  the 
grounds  and  reasons  of  the  same.  This  paper,  when 
finished,  was  read  over  with  great  care,  and  various 
alterations  and  interlineations  made  by  him — a  confi- 
dential friend  acting  as  his  amanuensis.  He  then 
placed  it  in  the  breast-pocket  of  his  dressing-gown  for 
convenient  reference,  and  two  or  three  days  before 
his  death,  he  drew  it  forth,  and  handed  it  to  his 
friend,  saying,  "  Here  is  this  paper ;  I  believe  it  is 
now  as  perfect  as  I  can  make  it."  This  interesting 
and  important  document,  in  which  the  argument  for 
Christianity  is  said  to  be  presented  with  singular 
force,  will  in  due  time  be  published.  Such  were  the 
occupations  Avhich  engrossed  Mr.  Webster's  mind  in 
the  prospect  of  death. 

"  A  setting  suu 


Should  leave  a  track  of  glory  in  the  skies." 

There  icas  a  bright  and  softened  ray  shooting  up- 
ward from  that  shrouded  chamber  at  Marshfield, 
where  our  great  statesman  lay  expiring.  It  was  his 
humble,  steadfast  confession  of  Jesus  Christ. 


62 

The  following  particulars  given  by  Dr.  Jeflfries, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Butler,  cannot  fail  to  excite 
the  deepest  interest. 

"On  leaving  Mr.  Webster  for  the  nigbt,  at  11^  o'clock,  on  Satur- 
day, October  16tb,  1852,  I  asked  him  if  I  sbould  repeat  to  him  a 
hymn  at  parting,  to  which  he  gave  a  ready  assent,  when  I  repeated 
the  hymn  which  begins  : 

"  '  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 
Dra.wn  frona  Immanuel's  veins.' 

"  He  gave  very  serious  attention  to  the  recital,  and  at  the  close 
said,  ^Amen,  amen — even  so  come.  Lord  Jesus.'  This  was  uttered 
with  great  solemnity.  He  afterwards  asked  me  if  I  remembered 
the  verse  in  one  of  Watts's  hymns  on  the  thought  of  dying  at  the 
foot  of  the  Cross,  and  repeated  these  lines  with  remarkable  energy 
and  feeling : 

"  '  Should  worlds  conspire  to  di'ive  me  hence, 
Moveless  and  firm  this  heart  should  lie, 
Resolved  (for  that's  my  last  defence), 
If  I  must  perish — here  to  die.' 

"  He  repeated  the  text,  '  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved,'  and  then  what  he  had  given  to  be  inscribed 
upon  his  tombstone,  which  was  as  follows : 

'*  'Lord,  I  believe,  help  thou  mine  unbelief.' 

*'  '  Philosophical  argument,  especially  that  drawn  from  the  vastness  of 
the  universe,  in  comparison  with  the  apparent  insignificance  of  this  globe, 
has  sometimes  shaken  my  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  me ;  but  my  heart 
has  always  assured  and  reassured  me,  that  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  must 
be  a  divine  reality.' 

"'The  Sermon  on   the  Mount  cannot  be  a  merely  human  production. 

This  belief  enters  into  the  very  depth  of  my  conscience. 

"  '  The  whole  history  of  man  proves  it.' 

"  '  Daniel  Webster.'  " 

On  the  evening  before  his  death,  he  prayed  in  his 
usual  voice,  strong,  full,  and  clear,  and  ended  thus : 


63 

"  Heavenly  Father,  forgive  my  sins,  and  receive  me 
to  thvself  tlirou£!;li  Jesus  Christ."  He  also  exclaimed, 
"  I  shall  be  to-night  in  life,  and  joy,  and  blessedness." 
Later  in  the  night  a  faintness  occurred,  which  led  him 
to  think  that  death  was  at  hand.  While  in  this  con- 
dition, some  expressions  fell  from  him,  indicating  the 
hope  that  his  mind  would  remain  to  him  completely 
to  the  last.  He  spoke  of  the  difficulty  of  the  process  of 
dying,  when  Dr.  Jeffries  repeated  the  verse,  "  Though 
I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I 
will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with  me  :  thy  rod  and 
thy  staff,  they  comfort  me."  He  said  immediately, 
"The  fact— the  fact.  That  is  what  I  want.  Tki/ 
7'od — thy  rod:  tliy  staff — thy  staff'''  His  last  words 
were,  "  I  still  live  !" 

These  gleams  of  light  which  irradiated  the 
chamber  of  death,  now  shed  their  lustre  upon  his 
secluded  tomb.  This  tomb  will  have  an  interest  for 
his  countrymen  and  for  intelligent  strangers,  inferior 
to  that  of  no  man  of  his  generation. 

"  Such  graves  as  his  are  pilgrim-shrines, 
Shrines  to  no  code  or  creed  confined — 
The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines, 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind." 

But  pilgrims  need  not  journey  to  Marshfield.  His 
memorials  are  all  over  the  land.  Our  farms  and  our 
factories — our  ships  and  our  railways — our  school- 
houses  and  our  churches — our  courts  and  our  legislar 
tures — our  domestic  harmony  and  our  honourable 
position  among  the  nations — our  matchless  Constitu- 


64 

tion,  stronger  than  ever  against  the  paroxysms  of 
misguided  patriotism  or  malevolent  faction,  and  our 
glorious  Union,  firmer  than  ever  in  the  affections  of 
the  people — these  are  his  memorials.     His  character 
and  achievements  have  become  a  part  of  our  national 
renown.     And  until  the  country  lacks  a  historian, 
Daniel  Webster  cannot  want  a  biographer.     To  his 
country,  indeed,  (if  we  may  embalm  his  name  in  one 
of  his  own  beautiful  tributes  to  departed  greatness — 
the  prophetic  paraphrase  of  his  dying  words)  "  he  yet 
lives,  and  lives  for  ever.     He  lives  in  all  that  perpe- 
tuates the  remembrance  of  men  on  earth ;    in  the 
recorded  proofs  of  his  own  great  actions,  in  the  off- 
spring of  his  intellect,  in  the  deep-engraved  lines  of 
public  gratitude,  and  in  the  respect  and  homage  of 
mankind.     He  lives  in  his  example;    and  he  lives 
emphatically,  and  will  live  in  the  influence  which  his 
life  and  efforts,  his  principles  and  opinions,  now  ex- 
ercise, and  will  continue  to  exercise,  on  the  afiairs  of 
men,  not  only  in  their  own  country,  but  throughout  the 
civilized  world.     A  superior  and  commanding  human 
intellect,  a  truly  great  man,  when  Heaven  vouchsafes 
so  rare  a  gift,  is  not  a   temporary  flame,  burning 
brightly  for  awhile,  and  then  giving  place  to  returning 
darkness.     It  is  rather  a  spark  of  fervent  heat,  as 
well  as  radiant  light,  with   power  to  enkindle  the 
common  mass  of  human  mind ;  so  that  when  it  glim- 
mers in  its  own  decay,  and  finally  goes  out  in  deathj 
no  night  follows,  but  it  leaves  the  world  all  light,  all 
on  fire,  from  the  potent  contact  of  its  own  spirit." 


THE  FEDERAL   JUDICIARY. 


A  THANKSGIVING  DISCOURSE, 


BY 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
WILLIAM    S.   &   ALFRED    MARTIEN 

18G2. 


Philadelphia,  December  8, 1862. 
To  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boaedman,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir — We  think  that  the  publication  of  your  Thanksgiving  Discourse,  on  the  Federal 
Judiciary,  would  be  acceptable  to  the  members  of  the  Legal  Profession,  as  well  as  to  many 
others  unconnected  with  that  Profession. 

You  are  aware  that  on  one  or  two  of  the  questions  embraced  in  the  discussion,  there 
has  been  a  diversity  of  sentiment  in  the  Profession ;  and  some  of  the  undersigned  might 
not  be  ready  to  adopt  every  expression  you  have  used  on  those  topics.  We  are,  neverthe- 
less, desirous  of  seeing  the  Discourse  in  print,  and  trust  that  you  will  favour  us  with  the 
manuscript  for  publication. 

Very  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

HENRY  C.  CAREY, 
WILLIAM  B.  HIESKELL, 
HENRY  S.  HAGERT, 
CHARLES  E.  LEX, 
JOSEPH  ABRAMS, 
P.  CARROLL  BREWSTER, 
SAMUEL  HOOD, 
ARTHUR  M.  BURTON, 
WILLIAM  r.  JUDSON, 
JOHN  B.  GEST, 
THOMAS  GREENBANK, 
CLEMENT  B.  PENROSE, 
JAMES  OTTERSON,  Jr. 
SAMUEL  DICKSON, 
HENRY  P.  KING, 
CHARLES  GIBBONS, 
W.  H.  DRAYTON, 
HENRY  A.  CONVERSE, 
VICTOR  GUILLOU, 
MORTON  P.  HENRY, 
FREDERICK  HEYER, 
P.  B.  CARTER, 
E.  K.  NICHOLS, 
JAMES  W.  PAUL, 
WILLIAM  H.  ARMSTRONG, 
(Williamsport,  Pa.) 


R.  C.  GRIER, 
W.  STRONG, 
JAMES  THOMPSON, 
J.  I.  CLARK  HARE, 
A.  V.  PARSONS, 
WILLIAM  A.  PORTER, 
JOHN  C.  KNOX, 
J.  HILL  MARTIN, 

w.  J.  Mcelroy, 

JOHN  C.  BULLITT, 
GEORGE  W.  THORN, 

A.  S.  LETCHWORTH, 
AMOS  BRIGGS, 

B.  GERHARD, 
CHARLES  SERGEANT, 
CHARLES  GILPIN. 
GEORGE  JUNKIN,  Jr. 
ROBERT  H.  McGRATH, 
J.  F.  JOHNSTON, 
MORTON  McMlCHAEL, 
E.  SPENCER  MILLER, 
THEODORE  CUYLER, 
STEPHEN  COLWELL, 
GEORGE  H.  BOKER, 
R.  C.  McMURTRIE, 
JAMES  MILLIKEN. 


Philadelphu,  December  11th,  1862. 
Gentiemen — I  need  not  say  to  you  that  the  article  of  our  Constitution  which  provides 
for  the  erection  of  a  tribunal  for  the  peaceful  arbitration  of  differences  among  the 
various  governments  embraced  in  the  Federal  Union,  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the 
highest  achievements  of  political  wisdom  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  was  this  conviction 
which  led  me,  on  the  late  Thanksgiving  Day,  to  call  attention  to  the  Judiciary  as  a 
great  national  blessing,  too  little  remembered  by  us.  My  discourse  has  been  received, 
especially  by  the  Bench  and  Bar,  with  a  kindness  I  could  not  have  anticipated.  I  feel 
myself  honoured  by  your  note,  and  cheerfully  place  the  manuscript  at  your  disposal. 
I  am.  Gentlemen, 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN. 

To  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Griee, 
Hon.  W.  Strong, 

Henry  C.  Caret,  Esq.,  and  others. 


THE    JUDICIARY. 


2  Chronicles  xix.  5 — 7. 

AND  HE  SET  JUDGES  IN  THE  LAND  THROUGHOUT  ALL  THE  FENCED  CITIES  OF 
JUDAH,  CITY  BY  CITY,  AND  SAID  TO  THE  JUDGES,  TAKE  HEED  WHAT  YE  DO, 
FOK  YE  JUDGE  NOT  FOR  MAN,  BUT  FOR  THE  LORD,  WHO  IS  WITH  YOU  IN 
THE  JUDGMENT.  WHEREFORE  NOW  LET  THE  FEAR  OP  THE  LORD  BE  UPON 
YOU  ;  TAKE  HEED  AND  DO  IT  :  FOR  THERE  IS  NO  INIQUITY  WITH  THE  LORD 
OUR  GOD,  NOR  RESPECT  OF  PERSONS,  NOR  TAKING  OF  GIFTS. 

It  has  fallen  to  my  lot,  on  the  annual  recurrence  of 
this  festival,  to  address  you  on  a  variety  of  topics 
connected  with  our  public  affairs.  This  has  become 
so  much  the  established  and  approved  custom  of  the 
pulpit,  that  you  would  be  disappointed,  should  I  de- 
part from  it  to-day.  I  am  not  unwilling  to  respond 
to  this  feeling.  But  instead  of  dwelling  upon  the 
present  state  of  the  country,  I  propose  to  offer  you 
some  observations  on  a  subject  of  national  import- 
ance, as  new  to  this  pulpit  as  it  must  be  to  most  of 
the  pulpits  of  the  land.  Among  the  very  numerous 
discourses  that  have  been  preached  and  published 
concerning  our  history  and  institutions,  one  of  the 
three  fundamental  departments  of  the  Government 
appears    to   have   been    overlooked.      The   inquiry 


seems  never  to  have  been  raised,  whether  amidst  the 
affluence  of  blessings  bound  up  in  our  political  char- 
ters, there  was  any  thing  to  call  for  special  thanks- 
giving in  the  Judicial  System  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  characters  and  services  of  the  leading  men 
by  whom  it  has  been  administered.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  account  for  this  oversight. 

The  Executive  and  Legislative  departments  of  the 
State  are  kept  constantly  before  the  public  eye. 
Subjected  to  the  ever-recurring  test  of  the  ballot-box, 
they  supply  the  staple  of  those  political  contests 
which  are  waged  with  such  vehemence  in  every 
country  blessed  with  constitutional  liberty.  Not 
only  are  the  offices  accessible  to  all,  but  they  appeal 
with  power  to  the  ambition,  and,  it  must  be  added, 
the  cupidity  of  the  masses.  The  acts  of  these  func- 
tionaries, too,  invite  praise  or  censure,  because,  as 
they  are  without  concealment,  so  they  bear  directly 
upon  the  personal  interests  of  all  who  compose  the 
body  politic.  The  Judiciary,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
no  prizes  to  offer  to  the  multitude.  It  is  confined 
to  the  ranks  of  a  single  Profession  which,  in  our 
country,  embraces  only  about  a  thousandth  part  of 
the  population.  It  moves  in  a  secluded  sphere. 
While  we  can  not  say  of  it,  "  There  is  no  speech  nor 
language ;  their  voice  is  not  heard  ;"*  we  may  say, 

*  The  literal  renderinp;  of  Psalm  xix.  3. 


that  its  voices  do  not  attract  the  popular  ear.  Ex- 
cept on  rare  occasions,  people  do  not  affect  the  court- 
rooms. And  where  they  do,  the  cases  which  allure 
them  are  oftener  those  that  appeal  to  their  curiosity 
or  their  passions,  than  those  which  involve  prin- 
ciples that  concern  our  dearest  personal  rights  or  our 
public  liberties. 

Owing  to  these  and  other  causes,  the  Judiciary  is 
rarely  thought  of,  even  when  we  are  reverently  medi- 
tating upon  the  signal  advantages  which  are  bound 
up  in  our  form  of  Government.  It  is  another  illus- 
tration of  the  familiar  adage,  "out  of  sight,  out  of 
mind."  We  are  drinking  every  day  of  the  crystal 
streams  which  flow  from  this  hidden  fountain,  with- 
out one  thought  of  the  fountain  itself;  and  even  with- 
out caring  to  know  whether  it  is  really  hidden,  or 
hidden  only  to  our  indolence.  It  may  not  be  what 
you  would  prefer  to  listen  to  to-day;  but  if  there  is 
one  of  our  chief  temporal  mercies  unacknowledged, 
you  will  not  chide  me  for  venturing  to  remind  you 
of  it. 

I  use  the  word  "remind"  in  this  last  sentence 
advisedly.  It  would  be  great  presumption  in  me  to 
attempt,  under  any  circumstances,  an  elaborate  dis- 
sertation on  the  Jurisprudence  of  the  United  States. 
The  present  occasion  calls  for  no  such  performance. 
All  I  propose  is,  to  throw  out  a  few  suggestions,  for- 


8 

tified  by  proper  biographical  references,  which  may 
lead  to  a  juster  appreciation  of  the  Divine  goodness 
to  us  in  this  department  of  our  affairs. 

If  I  confine  myself  mainly  in  these  remarks  to  the 
Federal  Judiciary,  it  will  be  partly  from  its  para- 
mount importance,  and  partly  from  the  necessary 
brevity  of  a  discourse  like  the  present. 

Among  the  problems  submitted  to  that  assembly 
of  great  men,  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  the  question  of  the 
Judiciary  was  found  peculiarly  embarrassing.  As 
there  was  no  precedent  for  such  a  Union  as  they 
proposed,  a  confederation  of  States  on  principles 
which  consolidated  the  people  into  a  single  compact 
nation,  without  sacrificing  the  independence  of  the 
several  constituent  sovereignties,  so  history  failed  to 
supply  them  with  any  model  in  framing  a  Judicial 
system  suited  to  the  exigencies  of  so  unique  a  poli- 
tical structure.  It  was  indispensable  that  the  Judi- 
cial should  be  made  co-extensive  with  the  Legisla- 
tive power.  Its  jurisdiction  must  comprehend  the 
entire  country,  yet  without  interfering  with  the 
supremacy  of  the  State  courts  in  their  respective 
spheres.  More  than  this,  it  was  necessary  to  pro- 
vide an  umpire  to  whose  authority  the  States  them- 
selves should  do  homage.  Collisions  had  occurred 
among  them,  and  might  occur  again — as  on  questions 


of  boundary,  of  jurisdiction,  or  of  personal  rights. 
They  might  enact  laws  in  contravention  of  the  fede- 
ral compact.  In  the  absence  of  a  competent  tribunal 
to  adjudicate  these  controversies,  both  parties  would 
fly  to  arms,  and  the  Union  would  soon  perish.  The 
embarrassment  lay  in  the  fact,  that  the  Judicial 
power  must  be  so  organized  as  to  reach  and  control, 
not  individuals  and  corporations  merely,  but  large 
and  flourishing  States,  proud  of  their  traditions, 
jealous  of  their  rights,  and  restive  under  restraint. 
It  must  go  still  further.  The  Government  might  be 
subverted  as  well  by  its  own  legitimate  authorities 
as  by  the  action  of  the  States.  It  was  as  needful  to 
protect  the  Constitution  from  domestic  as  from  for- 
eign invasion — from  the  usurpations  of  the  legisla- 
tive and  executive  departments  at  the  centre,  as  from 
the  encroachments  of  the  provincial  governments. 
There  must  be  a  tribunal  clothed  with  power  to 
annul  the  formal  statutes  of  the  States  and  of  Con- 
gress, and,  in  certain  cases,  to  pass  upon  the  consti- 
tutional validity  of  the  acts  of  the  Chief  Magistrate. 
To  say  that  other  nations  supplied  no  example  of 
such  a  Judiciary,  is  to  state  but  a  part  of  the  truth. 
No  such  tribunal  was  ever  heard  of  Every  civilized 
country  has  its  high  Courts  of  Judicature.  But  how- 
ever ample  their  powers,  they  have  no  mission  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  the  acts  of  the  Crown  and  the 


10 

Legislature.     Each  is  supreme  in  its  own  depart- 
ment.    Grave  questions  may  arise  as  to  the  assumed 
prerogative  of  the  throne ;  or  as  to  powers  assumed  by 
the  Legislature.    But  it  is  not  for  the  Judges  to  say, 
this  is  constitutional,  and  that  is  not;  here  the  sub- 
ject must  obey,  and  there  he  is  absolved  from  obedi- 
ence.    Our  Constitution  herein  is  as  much  a  novelty 
in  the  science  of  government,  as  is  the  court  which 
expounds  it.     It  is  literally  our  fundamental  law;  as 
binding  upon  the   President,  upon   Congress,  and 
upon  the  States,  as  it  is  upon  the  youngest  midship- 
man of  the  Navy.     Its  essential  characteristics  are 
these  two.     It  is  the  formal  expression  of  the  will 
of  the  ivhole  people.     As  such,  the  States,  severally 
and  jointly,  accepted  and  ratified  it;   and  so,  from 
being  distinct  societies,  they  became  a  single  con- 
solidated nation,  indivisible  and  inseparable,  except 
at  the  bidding  of  the  authority  which  created  it,  the 
voice  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Union.     These 
attributes  make  it  our  law  of  laws.     They  enthrone 
it  within  its  sphere,  which  its  own  terms   define, 
over   all  other  powers  and   over  all  persons.      To 
explain  and  apply  the  principles  of  this  (shall    I 
style    it)   sublime    instrument,   is    the   province   of 
our  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature ;  and  no  functions 
so  august   were    ever   before   confided  to  a  human 
tribunal. 


11 

How  much  we  are  all  indebted  to  this  arrange- 
ment, can  be  estimated  only  by  one  who  is  able  to 
sum  up  the  benefits  which  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  has  in  the  course  of  seventy  years  con- 
ferred upon  our  country  and  the  world.     For  it  ad- 
mits of  easy  demonstration,  that  the  preservation  of 
the  Constitution,  and,  by  consequence,  of  the  Union 
and  all  that  the  Union  comprehends,  is  due,  under 
God,   to  the  Judiciary.      The    Constitution  is    the 
depository  and  charter  of  those  rights  and  privileges 
which,  prior  to  this  rebellion,  had  conducted  our 
country  to  an  unexampled  pitch  of  prosperity  and 
happiness ;  and  of  the  Constitution,  the  Judiciary  has 
been  the  faithful  guardian.     Numerous  are  the  in- 
stances in  which  its  provisions  have  been  violated, 
sometimes  by  acts  of  Congress,  more  frequently  by 
the  State  Legislatures  or  the  State  courts.     And  if 
there  had  been  no  court  of  eminent  jurisdiction  to 
annul  these  acts  and  decrees,  the  Constitution  must 
long  ago  have  been  scattered  to  the  winds.     It  was 
with  a  deep  significance  that  Washington,  in  enclos- 
ing to  John  Jay  his  commission  as  the  first  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  addressed  him  as  "  the 
head  of  the  department  which  must  be  considered  as 
the  keystone  of  our  political  fabric."     Subsequent 
events  have  vindicated  this  comparison.     That  the 
arch  did  not  sooner  give  way,  was,  under  Providence, 


12 

because  the  keystone  proved  immovable.  That  the 
keystone  should  still  preserve  its  poise,  notwithstand- 
ing the  frightful  ruins  strewn  around  its  base,  forbids 
us  to  despair  of  yet  seeing  the  crumbling  arch  re- 
stored. 

Some  general  idea  may  be  formed  from  these  ob- 
servations, of  the  lofty  position  which  the  Judiciary 
holds  in  our  political  system.  It  will  readily  be  seen 
that  the  duties  devolving  upon  the  magistrates  who 
preside  in  this  court,  are  no  less  delicate  than  mo- 
mentous. Besides  the  difficulties  and  responsibili- 
ties inherent  in  the  Judicial  office  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  they  are  exposed  to  others  of  no  tri- 
vial character.  They  are  set  to  expound  the  Consti- 
tution. Representing,  in  this  capacity,  the  federal 
authority,  they  stand  in  a  sort  of  antagonism  to  the 
State  functionaries,  and  to  all  upon  whose  pride,  or 
ambition,  or  supposed  interest,  the  yoke  of  the  Con- 
stitution may  press  with  any  degree  of  rigour.  The 
allegiance  of  the  citizen  to  his  own  State  being  im- 
mediate and  direct,  and  that  to  the  general  govern- 
ment remote,  a  tribunal  created  to  uphold  the  supre- 
macy of  the  national  authority  wherever  the  States 
may  presume  to  impugn  it,  must  expect  to  be  viewed 
with  a  jealous  eye.  The  popular  sympathy  which  so 
often  cheers  other  jurists,  rarely  makes  its  way  into 
the  presence-chamber  of  our  national  Court.     It  is 


13 

their  ungracious  office  to  decide  causes  where  the 
parties-litigant  are,  perhaps,  sovereign  States ;  and 
the  mandate  they  issue,  instead  of  affecting  a  solitary 
individual  or  corporation,  disappoints  and  vexes  a 
million  of  people.  To  this  great  community  they 
are,  as  it  were,  a  foreign  tribunal :  and  so  much  room 
do  their  relations  to  the  defeated  party  leave,  in 
cases  of  this  sort,  for  the  workings  of  wounded  state- 
pride,  partisan  feeling,  and  all  uncharitableness,  that 
the  general  acquiescence  of  the  nation  in  the  deci- 
sions of  the  Supreme  Court,  deserves  to  be  regarded 
as  a  signal  token  of  God's  providential  care  over  our 
country. 

This,  however,  is  but  one  class  of  the  cases  which 
illustrate  the  point  before  us.  It  devolves  upon  this 
Court,  as  already  intimated,  to  sit  in  judgment  upon 
the  acts  of  the  co-ordinate  branches  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  to  interpose  itself,  as  occasion  serves, 
between  either  or  both  and  an  excited  people.  It 
must  defend  the  Legislature  against  the  threatening 
designs  of  the  Executive.  It  must  protect  the  just 
prerogative  of  the  Executive  against  the  unconstitu- 
tional demands  of  the  Legislature.  It  must  guard 
the  right  of  the  States  from  federal  aggression,  and 
the  authority  of  the  federal  government  from  the 
aggressions  of  the  States.  It  must,  if  needful, 
invoke  the  whole  power  of  the  Union  to  enforce  its 


14 

decrees  in  the  face  of  an  inflamed  populace  who  are 
disappointed  of  a  coveted  victim.  And  it  must 
invoke  that  same  power  to  shield  even  an  unworthy 
citizen  from  an  attempted  outrage,  whether  on  the 
part  of  a  vindictive  Legislature  or  a  despotic  Exe- 
cutive. 

Functions  like  these  could  be  entrusted  only  to  a 
Judiciary  established  upon  the  firmest  possible  foun- 
dation. The  provision  of  the  Constitution  relating 
to  this  point,  is  in  the  following  words: — "The 
Judges  both  of  the  Supreme  and  inferior  Courts, 
shall  hold  their  offices  during  good  behaviour;  and 
shall  at  stated  times  receive  for  their  services  a  com- 
pensation, which  shall  not  be  diminished  during 
their  continuance  in  office."  It  is  well  known  that 
the  wisdom  of  these  last  days  claims  to  have  devised 
a  better  principle  for  the  regulation  of  the  Judiciary 
than  the  good  behaviour  tenure ;  I  refer  to  the  plan 
of  an  elective  Judici-ary  for  short  terms.  The  great 
importance  of  this  question  must  be  my  apology  for 
offering  a  few  observations  on  the  general  subject. 

The  plan  of  an  elective  Judiciary  for  short  terms, 
has  been  advocated  chiefly  upon  two  grounds.  First, 
as  affording  the  only  adequate  means  of  getting  rid 
of  incompetent  or  corrupt  Judges.  The  answer  to 
this  is,  that  a  Judge  of  this  sort  may  be  removed  by 
impeachment.     In  some  of  the  States  the  same  end 


15 

may  be  reached  by  the  less  formal  process  of  an 
address  to  the  Governor  by  the  Legislature.  The 
other  and  main  argument  is,  that  it  is  anti-repub- 
lican to  confer  an  "office  for  life;"  and  that  to  insure 
the  faithful  administration  of  justice,  the  Judges 
must  be  made,  like  Legislative  and  Executive  offi- 
cers, directly  responsible  to  the  people.  But  the 
system  here  impugned  does  not  create  a  "life-office." 
The  tenure  is,  "  during  good  behaviour."  If  a  Judge 
does  well,  he  keeps  his  place:  if  otherwise,  he  may 
be  deposed.  Nor  is  the  analogy  drawn  from  the 
other  departments  of  any  validity.  The  difference 
has  been  often  pointed  out.  The  whole  power  of 
the  State  is  vested  in  the  Legislative  and  Executive 
branches  of  the  government.  They  make  the  laws. 
They  create  offices.  They  appoint  all  the  officers. 
They  dispense  all  the  patronage.  They  declare  war 
and  make  peace.  They  may  embark  in  schemes 
which  involve  the  outlay  of  millions  of  money,  and 
the  employment  of  whole  armies  of  contractors, 
agents,  and  their  subordinates;  for  all  which  the 
country  must  be  taxed.  In  wielding  these  vast 
powers,  they  have  a  large  discretion.  They  may  do 
or  not  do,  as  they  see  fit.  They  may  choose  out  of 
a  variety  of  projects  for  accomplishing  a  certain  end ; 
or  they  may  reject  them  all,  and  abandon  the  object 
itself.     Whatever  they   do   or    leave   undone,   the 


16 

people  reap  the  consequences.  It  is  on  every  ground 
proper,  then,  that  the  people  should  exercise  a  strict 
surveillance  over  these  functionaries ;  that  they  should 
hold  them  to  a  rigid  accountability,  by  requiring 
them  to  return  their  commissions  to  their  hands  at 
stated  and  brief  intervals. 

Now  what  semblance  of  identity  is  there  between 
this  case  and  that  of  the  Judiciary "?  The  Judges 
have  no  political  power.  They  can  create  no  corpo- 
rations. They  can  make  no  contracts.  They  can 
lay  no  taxes.  They  can  appoint  no  officers.  They 
are  simply  the  oracle  of  the  law.  The  laws,  which, 
it  is  important  to  note,  they  have  no  agency  in 
making,  (and  none  in  repealing  except  as  they  may 
pronounce  them  unconstitutional,)  speak  through 
them  to  the  people  and  to  their  rulers.  The  Judges 
are  shut  up  to  this  service.  They  are  without  dis- 
cretion.* There  is  not  a  vagrant  on  the  street  who 
may  not  go  into  court  and  compel  them  to  speak.  A 
Legislature  may  shirk  an  unwelcome  duty.  They 
may  decline  or  postpone  action,  where  action  would 
embroil  them  with  their  constituents.  But  a  Judge 
has  no  such  latitude.  It  matters  not  who  may 
invoke  his  interposition,  nor  whom  he  may  disquiet  ; 
when  the  cause  comes  before  him,  his  oath  requires 

*  See  Mr.  Sergeant's  very  able  speeclx  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Convention. 


17 

him  to  decide  it.  That  these  decisions  should  fre- 
quently give  offence,  is  unavoidable.  All  the  more 
reason  is  there  for  making  the  Judges  independent. 
It  is  for  the  interest  of  the  people  that  the  magistrate 
who  expounds  the  laws,  should  be  in  a  position  to 
fear  neither  their  displeasure  nor  that  of  their  poli- 
tical rulers.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  them  to  say, 
that  they  are  not  competent  to  review  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  courts;  if  they  are,  why  not  abolish 
the  courts  altogether'?  Experience  has  shown 
that  opinions  from  the  Bench  which  at  first  excited 
popular  odium,  are  frequently  accepted  after  a  little 
season  as  just  and  wise.  This  shows  the  impor- 
tance of  a  permanent  Judiciary. 

To  say  that  "  the  offices  of  the  Judges  belong,  not 
to  the  incumbents,  but  to  the  people,"  and  to  urge 
this  as  a  reason  why  the  people  should  have  a  fre- 
quent opportunity  of  appropriating  them,  is  to  trifle 
with  a  very  grave  subject.  The  offices  do  belong  to 
the  people.  And  it  also  belongs  to  the  people  to 
have  them  filled  with  wise  and  faithful  men — not  for 
the  sake  of  these  men,  but  for  the  public  good.  Of 
what  moment  is  it  to  you  or  to  me,  who  the  indi- 
vidual may  be  that  sits  in  the  seat  of  judgment  I  But 
it  is  of  the  greatest  moment  to  us  all,  that  we  should 
guard  the  independence  of  the  jurist  who  sits  there, 
by  assuring  him  that  so  long  as  he  does  well,  he  shall 
2 


18 

not  be  molested.  It  is  for  our  good,  not  his  own, 
that  we  would  have  him  feel  that  he  shall  not  be  de- 
prived of  his  bread  and  turned  adrift  upon  the  world, 
for  doing  his  duty.  In  taking  this  ground,  we  are 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  government  against  fac- 
tion ;  the  cause  of  minorities  against  majorities ;  the 
cause  of  the  helpless  against  the  strong ;  the  cause  of 
the  loyal  and  exemplary  citizen  against  the  violence 
of  party;  the  cause  of  popular  liberty  against  the 
usurpations  of  arbitrary  power.  The  whole  frame- 
work of  society  is  suspended  upon  the  independence 
of  the  Judiciary.  "  I  have  always  thought,"  says 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  "  from  my  earliest  youth  till 
now,  that  the  greatest  scourge  an  angry  Heaven  ever 
inflicted  upon  an  ungrateful  and  a  sinning  people, 
was  an  ignorant,  a  corrupt,  or  a  dependent  Judiciary." 
These  solemn  words  occur  in  a  speech  he  delivered 
in  1829,  (he  was  then  in  his  75th  year,)  to  the  Vir- 
ginia Convention,  his  main  object  being  to  show  that 
Judicial  independence  could  be  secured  only  by  the 
good-behaviour  tenure. 

To  maintain  that  an  upright  judge  has  nothing  to 
fear  from  a  periodical  reference  of  his  commission  to 
the  contingencies  of  a  popular  vote,  may  be  a  very 
amiable  sentiment,  but  it  does  not  quite  suit  the 
sphere  we  happen  to  dwell  in.  This  is  no  Arcadia, 
but  a  very  matter-of-fact  sort  of  world,  with  large 


19 

room  for  the  play  of  envy,  ambition,  resentment, 
avarice,  and  their  kindred  passions;  and  "svith  sad 
memorials,  filling  many  thousands  of  volumes,  of 
faithful  public  servants  who  have  suffered  injustice 
at  the  hands  of  their  fellows.  We  cannot  trust  our 
Judges  to  this  sort  of  guardianship.  We  do  not  care 
to  expose  them  to  such  temptations.  We  fear  the 
flatteries  and  the  enmities  of  popular  leaders.  We 
distrust  the  arts  of  emulous  rivals,  and  the  candour 
of  a  partisan  press.  There  is  no  country  in  the 
world  where  personal  character  is  so  mercilessly 
traduced  at  the  polls,  as  here.  No  citizen  who 
becomes  a  candidate  for  office  is  too  good  to  be 
gibbeted  as  a  felon  in  disguise.  The  most  venerable 
of  our  living  statesmen,  now  four-score  years  of  age, 
as  remarkable  for  the  purity  of  his  life  as  for  his  emi- 
nent abilities,  observed  in  a  speech  before  the  United 
States  Senate  some  years  ago,  that  when  his  name 
was  before  the  country  in  connection  with  the  Pre- 
sidency, he  was  accused  by  the  newspapers  of  every 
crime  in  the  decalogue  except  one.  I  suppose  the 
excepted  sin  was  idolatry.  Why  his  detractors 
should  scruple  about  this  charge  is  quite  intelligible. 
Even  party  credulity  was  not  ready  to  have  it  said, 
that  Mr.  Cass  was  a  worshipper  of  Jupiter  or  Jugger- 
naut. Had  there  been  an  audience  to  entertain  it, 
the  libel  should  not  have  failed  for  lack  of  some  one 
to  father  it. 


20 

It  is  the  tax  we  pay  for  our  liberties — this  licenti- 
ousness of  the  tongue  and  the  press.  For  this  reason 
and  no  other,  we  tolerate  it.  But  who  wishes  to  see 
Judicial  integrity  cast  into  this  seething  cauldron'? 
Can  the  Judges  bear  it  1  Do  they  require  it '!  If  it 
be  needful  to  subject  them  to  the  ordeal  by  fire,  why 
not  go  back  to  the  approved  system  of  the  fathers, 
and  compel  them  every  few  years  to  walk  barefoot 
over  nine  red  hot  plough-shares  1  That  had  a  cer- 
tain dignity  about  it.  It  was  genuine  sorcery.  The 
other  is  a  poor  imitation.  It  lacks  the  solemnity  of 
the  primitive  institute, — unhappily  it  retains  the  fire. 
But  the  personal  relation  of  the  Judges  to  this  ques- 
tion, is  of  secondary  importance.  Let  it  fare  with 
them  as  it  may,  can  the  people  bear  if?  Can  they 
aff'ord  to  live  under  a  system  the  essential  tendency 
of  which  is  to  make  justice  the  sport  of  human  pas- 
sions and  the  foot-ball  of  parties'?  Is  it  for  their 
security  and  happiness  that  the  courts  should  be 
exposed  to  every  gust  that  disturbs  the  political  atmo- 
sphere ;  and  that  the  Judges  should  be  placed  in  a 
position  where  the  thought  of  bread  for  themselves 
and  their  families,  may  tempt  them  to  keep  one  eye 
on  the  code  and  the  other  on  the  ballot-box  1  Will 
it  aid  in  conserving  their  franchises  to  have  learned 
and  upright  Judges  driven  from  the  Bench — perhaps 
to  go  to  the  almshouse,  or  to  the  grave — at  the  very 


21 

time  when  age  and  experience  combine  to  make  their 
services  more  valuable  than  ever'? 

It  is  no  reply  to  these  views  to  urge  that  many  of 
the  States,  our  own  among  them,  have  adopted  the 
plan  of  an  elective  Judiciary  for  short  terms:  and 
that  thus  far  it  has  proved  satisfactory.  For  the 
time  has  not  eome  to  gather  the  fruit  of  this  tree. 
The  system  is  yet  to  be  tested.  We  may  concede 
that  in  our  own  State  it  has  thus  far  wrought  no 
irreparable  mischief.  We  may  go  further:  it  has 
given  us  some  Judges  of  very  high  character,  who 
deservedly  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  Bar  and  of 
the  public.  This  is  cause  for  thankfulness.  But 
neither  our  experience  nor  that  of  other  common- 
wealths, will  aid  the  sponsors  of  this  new  doctrine. 

The  indications  are  (so  it  is  credibly  stated)  that 
the  election  of  Judges  in  the  States  which  have 
repudiated  the  time-honoured  custom  of  the  older 
nations,  will  at  no  distant  day  sink  to  the  level  of 
those  partisan  contests,  in  which  all  concern  for  the 
fitness  of  candidates  is  merged  in  the  one  paltry 
idea  of  their  "availableness."  And  when  that  day 
comes.  Justice  will  fly  from  her  desecrated  tem- 
ples, and  Liberty  will  not  be  long  in  following  her  to 
some  happier  shore.* 

*I  have  heard  a  very  distinguished  citizen  of  this  State  express 
his  deep  regret  for  the  vote  he  gave  in  the  Convention  of  18o7, 


22 

I  may  be  allowed  to  confirm  these  views  by  an 
authority  which  both  the  Bar  and  the  Bench  are 
accustomed  to  respect. 

"What  guarantee  is  there  for  the  Constitution 
itself,  if  you  emasculate  the  judicial  department,  the 
only  one  that  is  a  smooth,  practical,  wakeful,  and 
efficient  defence  against  invasions  of  the  Constitution 
by  the  Legislature — the  only  one  that  can  be  effi- 
cient in  a  republican  representative  government, 
whose  people  will  not  bear  a  blow,  and  therefore 
require  a  guarantee  whose  blow  is  a  word]  A  lease- 
hold elective  tenure  by  the  Judiciary  is  a  frightful 
solecism  in  such  a  government.  It  enfeebles  the 
guarantee  of  other  guarantees — the  trial  by  jury — 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus — the  freedom  and  parity 
of  elections  by  the  people — and  the  true  liberty  and 
responsibility  of  the  press.  It  takes  strength  from 
the  only  arm  that  can  do  no  mischief  by  its  strength, 
and  gives  it  to  those  who  have  no  general  intelligence 
to  this  end,  in  the  use  of  it,  and  therefore  no  ability 
to  use  it  for  their  own  protection.     The  certainty 

in  favour  of  altering  the  Judicial  tenure.  He  added,  with  emotion, 
"  It  is  my  conviction  that  this  change  has  put  Pennsylvania  back 
one  hundred  years;  and  so  thorough  is  the  revolution  of  opinion 
on  this  subject,  that  if  the  question  could  now  be  submitted  to  a 
popular  vote,  our  State  would  go  back  to  the  old  tenure  by  an 
overwhelming  majority."  I  am  further  assured,  by  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  Professiou,  that  "the  Pennsylvania  Bar  is  a  unit  on 
this  question." 


23 

and  permanence  of  the  law  depend  in  great  degree 
upon  the  Judges ;  and  all  experience  misleads  us, 
and  the  very  demonstrations  of  reason  are  fallacies,  if 
the  certainty  and  permanence  of  the  judicial  office 
by  the  tenure  of  good  behaviour,  are  not  insepa- 
rately  connected  with  a  righteous,  as  well  as  with  a 
scientific,  administration  of  the  law.  What  can  expe- 
rience or  foresight  predict  for  the  result  of  a  system, 
by  which  a  body  of  men,  set  apart  to  enforce  the 
whole  law  at  all  times,  whatever  may  be  the  oppo- 
sition to  it,  and  whose  duty  is  never  so  important 
and  essential  as  when  it  does  so  against  the  pas- 
sions of  a  present  majority  of  the  polls,  is  made  to 
depend  for  office  upon  the  fluctuating  temper  of  a 
majority,  and  not  upon  the  virtue  of  their  own 
conductr'* 

Thus  much  on  the  general  question  of  the  Judi- 
cial tenure.  The  argument  grows  cumulative  when 
applied  to  the  Federal  Judiciary.  It  were  quite  per- 
tinent to  refer,  on  this  point,  to  the  stores  of  learning, 
professional  and  general,  which  are  demanded  by  the 
exigencies  of  that  Bench.  A  Court  which,  to  say 
nothing  of  Admiralty  cases.  Treaties,  and  the  Law  of 
Nations,  rises  to  the  dignity  of  a  great  "inter- 
national arbiter,"  by  comprehending  within  its  juris- 
diction the  acts  of  Congress  and  the  Legislation  and 

*The  Leaders  of  the  Old  Bar  of  riiiladelphia.     Ey  Horace 
Binney.    1859. 


24 

Jurisprudence  of  thirty-four  sovereign  States  and  an 
indefinite  number  of  Territories,  must  require  for  the 
wise  administration  of  its  powers,  an  extent  and 
variety  of  intellectual  resources  far  beyond  any  Judi- 
cial office  known  to  the  most  polished  nations  of 
Europe.  How  are  men  to  be  fitted  for  such  an  office 
without  a  life  of  study "?  And  what  motive  were 
there  to  engage  in  this  herculean  work  of  prepara- 
tion, if  they  were  liable  to  be  removed  at  the  end  of 
a  few  years'? 

But  let  me  simply  recall  the  views  already  pre- 
sented. Consider  the  vast  responsibilities  accumu- 
lated upon  this  Bench,  the  extreme  delicacy  of  their 
relations  to  the  General  and  State  Governments  and 
to  all  the  inferior  Courts,  the  powerful  clients  that 
appear  at  their  Bar,  the  wide  sweep  of  their  jurisdic- 
tion, the  momentous  consequences  which  their  deci- 
sions frequently  draw  after  them  in  respect  to  our 
own  commonwealths  and  our  transactions  with  foreign 
Cabinets,  and  their  peculiar  liability  to  provoke  the 
displeasure  of  suitors  of  all  sorts,  individuals,  corpo- 
rations, and  whole  communities, — consider  these 
things,  'and  say  whether  it  can  be  wise  or  just  to 
place  men  in  this  position  without  making  their  pri- 
vileges indefeasible,  except  on  due  conviction  of 
imbecility  or  crime.  This  Court  has  more  than  once 
given  umbrage  to  the  Federal  Legislature  and  the 


25 

Executive.  It  has  wounded  the  sensibility  of  States. 
It  has  affronted  great  political  parties;  and  drawn 
upon  itself  the  anathemas  of  popular  orators  and  the 
denunciations  of  the  press.  We  violate  no  charity 
in  assuming  that  on  some  of  these  occasions  it  may 
have  deserved  censure :  for  what  tribunal  is  infal- 
lible'? What  one  has  always  and  entirely  escaped 
the  taint  of  unworthy  motives'?  But  what  then'? 
We  are  to  estimate  its  working  on  the  whole.  And 
after  making  all  due  allowance  for  the  infirmities 
and  errors  incident  to  such  a  tribunal,  no  candid 
mind  will  deny  that  it  has  been  one  of  the  main  but- 
tresses of  the  Republic,  one  of  the  chief  supports  of 
the  public  safety  and  the  public  virtue.  Yet  it  is 
morally  certain,  that  if  the  Judges  had  been  remo- 
vable at  the  discretion  of  the  President  or  of  Con- 
gress, or  had  been  obliged  to  encounter  at  prescribed 
intervals  the  hazards  of  a  heated  political  campaign, 
the  personnel  of  the  Court  would  have  undergone 
frequent  changes.  In  particular  instances  this  might 
have  been  advantageous.  But  the  general  result 
must  have  been  pernicious  in  a  high  degree.  The 
diff'erences  which  arise  between  the  Judiciary  and 
the  other  branches  of  the  Government,  are  now  evan- 
escent. Under  the  other  system,  they  would  ripen 
into  settled  contests;  and  we  should  present  to  the 
world  the  unseemly  spectacle  of  a  frequent,  perhaps, 


26 

a  perpetual  wrangling  among  the  principal  depart- 
ments of  the  Government.  Again,  the  perturbation 
which  occasionally  follows  an  obnoxious  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  now  passes  off  in  an  efferves- 
cence of  popular  feeling.  Under  the  adverse  plan, 
every  such  event  would  be  seized  as  an  element  of 
political  agitation,  and  made  to  bear  with  mis- 
chievous effect  upon  the  next  Judicial  election.  In 
this  way,  that  high  Court  would  be  brought  down 
from  the  serene  atmosphere  where  it  now  dwells, 
into  the  turbulent  region  of  party  politics.  Fre- 
quent changes  would  destroy  its  identity.  That 
sense  of  responsibility  and  harmony  of  action  which 
are  the  natural  characteristics  of  an  upright  and  per- 
manent Judiciary,  would  give  place  to  the  mutual 
jealousies  which  may  be  expected  to  mark  a  Bench 
composed  of  politicians  as  distinguished  from  a 
Bench  composed  of  Jurists.  And  the  potent  influ- 
ence of  this  great  Institution,  which  has  done  so 
much  to  save  and  bless  the  country,  would  combine 
with  the  numerous  agencies  already  at  work  to 
poison  the  springs  of  our  national  life,  and  hasten 
the  final  catastrophe  of  the  Government. 

Not  to  pursue  this  topic  further,  the  wisdom  of 
the  plan  upon  which  the  federal  courts  were  organ- 
ized, has  been  amply  vindicated  by  the  results.  It 
may  be  asserted,  without  the  least  fear  of  contradic- 


27 

tion,  that  the  Judiciary  has  continued  to  this  day 
the  purest  branch  of  our  government.  Its  integrity 
must  often  have  been  thrust  into  the  crucible.  The 
Tempter,  from  whose  assaults  neither  private  worth 
nor  official  station  insures  any  immunity,  would  not 
fail  to  spread  his  toils  around  its  council-chamber. 
Specious  arts  would  be  employed  to  subsidize  it,  now 
in  the  interest  of  some  unscrupulous  corporation, 
now  in  the  interest  of  arbitrary  power,  and  anon  on 
behalf  of  some  popular  resentment.  We  have  all 
seen  the  fatal  effects  of  these  insidious  agencies,  in 
the  admitted  moral  deterioration  which  has,  for 
many  years,  been  going  on  in  other  departments  of 
the  public  service,  both  State  and  National.  But 
thus  far,  (let  us  thank  God  for  it,)  the  Judiciary  has 
not  been  drawn  into  this  vortex.  However  its 
decisions  may  sometimes  have  occasioned  a  wide 
murmur  of  discontent,  and  even  provoked  the  for- 
mal censure  of  assembled  Senates,  it  is  beyond  con- 
troversy, that  the  people,  as  a  body,  have  more 
confidence  in  this  Court,  than  in  any  other  branch 
of  the  Government. 

Let  justice  be  done,  however.  This  result  is  not 
to  be  wholly  ascribed  to  the  plan  upon  which  the 
Judiciary  is  organized,  nor  to  the  tenure  by  which 
the  judges  hold  their  office.  It  is  due,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  to  the  characters,  personal  and  profes- 


28 

sional,  of  the  men  who  liave  occupied  the  Bench  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  In  the  list  of  names  which 
grace  the  records  of  this  tribunal,  there  are  not  a 
few  which  have  reflected  honour  even  upon  that 
august  station.  But  the  hand  of  a  beneficent 
Providence  is  especially  to  be  recognised  in  the 
history  of  the  Chief  Justiceship. 

It  must  be  regarded  as  a  remarkable  circumstance, 
that,  during  the  seventy-three  years  which  have 
elapsed  since  the  organization  of  the  Court,  there 
have  been,  with  an  unimportant  qualification,  but 
four  Chief  Justices.  The  qualification  this  state- 
ment requires,  has  respect  to  the  appointment  of 
John  Rutledge  of  South  Carolina,  to  this  post,  in 
1795,  whose  nomination,  however,  was  rejected  by 
the  Senate,  after  he  had  presided  for  a  single  term  ; 
and  the  appointment  of  William  Cushing,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, who,  on  the  retirement  of  Kutledge, 
accepted  the  office,  but  resigned  it  at  the  end  of  a 
week,  without  presiding  at  all.  On  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution  in  1789,  Washington  manifested 
his  appreciation  of  the  character  and  abilities  of 
John  Jay,  by  offering  him  a  choice  of  the  offices  at 
his  disposal.  Mr.  Jay  preferred  the  Chief  Justice- 
ship, and  it  was  conferred  upon  him.  Four  years 
after,  when  another  war  with  Great  Britain  appeared 
imminent,  the  President  selected  him  as  the  most 


29 

suitable  person  to  be  sent  as  special  envoy  to  that 
country.  The  mission  was  distasteful  to  Mr.  Jay, 
but  he  sacrificed  his  private  predilections  to  his 
patriotism,  and  accepted  the  trust.  One  of  our  late 
historians  refers  to  this  event  in  language  which  I 
quote,  as  supplying  (so  far  as  it  goes)  a  faithful  por- 
traiture of  the  man.  "  In  point  of  Revolutionary 
services,  only  the  President  himself  stood  upon 
higher  ground.  Nor  could  any  person,  except  the 
Vice-President,  (Adams,)  pretend  to  a  place  upon 
the  same  level.  In  lofty  disinterestedness,  in 
unyielding  integrity,  in  superiority  to  the  illusions 
of  passion,  no  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  Pevolu- 
tion  approached  so  near  to  Washington.  Profound 
knowledge  of  the  law,  inflexible  sense  of  justice, 
and  solidity  of  judgment,  had  especially  marked  him 
out  for  the  office  which  he  held.  .  .  .  The  only 
serious  objection  to  his  appointment,  (as  Ambassa- 
dor Extraordinary,)  was  his  judicial  station.  But 
even  that  gave  an  additional  dignity  to  the  mission  ; 
and  in  a  crisis  so  important,  the  objection  lost  much 
of  its  weight."* 

Of  the  convulsions  which  were  occasioned  by  the 
Treaty  he  negotiated;  how  bitterly  he  was  denounced 
as  the  betrayer  of  his  country's  independence;  how 
copies  of  the  Treaty  were  publicly  burned  in  Boston, 

*  Hildreth. 


30 

New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Charleston;  and  how 
the  two  great  parties  marshalled  their  forces 
throughout  the  Union  on  this  question,  as  one  of 
honour  or  shame,  of  even  life  or  death,  to  the  Repub- 
lic, it  is  not  for  me  to  speak.  All  that  concerns  the 
present  discussion  is,  that  neither  at  this  crisis,  nor 
at  any  other  juncture  of  our  affairs,  was  any  assault 
made  upon  Mr.  Jay's  personal  integrity.  Even  the 
malevolence  of  party  feeling,  never  more  virulent 
than  then,  dared  not  point  a  single  shaft  at  his 
character.  That  he  should  feel  keenly  the  injus- 
tice with  which  his  services  were  requited,  was 
unavoidable.  But  he  bore  the  trial  with  the  perfect 
peace  promised  to  him  whose  "  mind  is  stayed  on 
God."  Any  other  foundation  must  have  given  way. 
For  "  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and 
the  winds  blew,"  with  a  fury  to  which  the  history  of 
parties  in  our  country  supplies  few,  if  any,  parallels. 
But  he  was  unmoved:  his  feet  were  planted  on  a 
Kock — on  that  Rock  which  sustains  the  pillars  of 
the  firmament.  The  serenity  of  spirit  he  displayed 
amidst  this  storm,  found  apt  expression  on  a  kin- 
dred occasion,  when,  having  been  defrauded,  by  the 
canvassers,  of  the  vote  which  had  made  him  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  he  wrote  thus  to  his  wife: 
"  Having  nothing  to  reproach  myself  with  in  rela- 
tion to  this  event,  it  shall  neither  discompose  my 


31 

temper,  nor  postpone  my  sleep.  A  few  years  will 
put  us  all  in  the  dust;  and  it  will  then  be  of  more 
importance  to  me  to  have  governed  myself  than  to 
have  governed  the  State." 

This  incident  reveals  both  his  moral  greatness 
and  the  source  from  which  it  was  derived.  There 
is  no  purer  name  known  to  the  annals  of  our  coun- 
try than  that  of  John  Jay.  A  man  of  vigorous 
intellect,  with  ample  and  various  culture,  equal  to 
any  position  in  the  government,  and  actually  filling 
several  of  its  most  elevated  and  responsible  offices, 
the  bosom  friend  of  Washington,  and  one  of  the 
idols  of  that  great  party  of  which  it  is  praise  enougl! 
to  say  that  it  had  Washington  for  its  head,  his 
whole  character  and  life  were  transfused  with  the 
spirit  of  true  religion.  He  was  proof  alike  against 
calumny  and  against  flattery.  A  prominent  actor  in 
most  turbulent  scenes,  he  daily  "walked  with  God." 
And  while  nothing  could  be  further  removed  from  a 
sanctimonious  carriage,  he  seemed  ever  to  carry 
along  with  him  an  atmosphere  that  savoured  of  the 
"better  country." 

Of  Mr.  Jay's  judicial  career  I  shall  not  pause  to 
speak.  But  we  may  well  record  it  as  one  of  the 
tokens  of  the  Divine  goodness  to  our  country,  that 
such  a  man  was  called  to  preside  over  the  Supreme 
Court  for  the  first  six  years  of  its  existence. 


32 

He  was  succeeded,  after  the  brief  interval  already 
alluded  to,  by  Oliver  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut. 
(March  4,  1796.)  It  is  not  from  choice  that  I  make 
merely  a  passing  allusion  to  the  labours  of  this  dis- 
tinguished man.  The  limits  prescribed  by  approved 
custom  to  a  service  like  the  present,  only  permit  me 
to  say,  that  the  mantle  of  Jay  contracted  no  stain 
when  it  fell  upon  his  successor.  A  sound  and  able 
jurist,  he  administered  his  high  trust  in  a  manner 
satisfactory  to  the  country,  while  he  carried  into 
every  sphere  of  life  the  spirit  of  an  unaffected  and 
earnest  piety. 

Ellsworth  resigned  the  Chief  Justiceship  in  1800, 
and  was  succeeded  by  John  Marshall,  (January, 
1801.)  There  is  but  one  name  in  our  history 
which  deserves  to  be  pronounced  with  greater  reve- 
ence  than  this.  It  is  the  name  we  instinctively 
associate  with  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  nation; 
the  name  through  which,  more  than  any  other,  that 
Court  has  established  itself  in  the  grateful  affections 
of  the  American  people,  and  secured  for  our  Juris- 
prudence the  respect  of  the  Profession  abroad.  If 
the  entire  testimony  of  the  Bench  and  Bar  of  the 
country  may  be  relied  upon  as  a  safe  guide,  the 
munificent  Providence  which  raised  up  a  Washing- 
ton to  conduct  us  through  the  Kevolution,  and  take 
the  lead  in  organizing    the  government,  bestowed 


1 


33 

upon  ITS  a  gift  of  scarcely  less  value  in  sending  us  a 
Marshall.  For  without  his  agency,  or  that  of  some 
one  endowed  with  similar  qualifications,  the  work 
achieved  by  Washington  and  his  compeers  must 
soon  have  come  to  nought.  No  one  can  believe 
that  it  would  have  survived  the  fierce  political  con- 
flicts which  marked  the  administrations  of  the 
second,  third,  and  fourth  Presidents,  The  machinery 
of  the  government  was  all  new.  It  had  gone  into 
operation  against  the  energetic  remonstrances  of 
large  bodies  of  the  people,  including  not  a  few  of 
the  most  influential  advocates  and  statesmen  of  the 
country.  Patrick  Henry  was  gone;  but  at  the 
period  of  Marshall's  accession  to  the  Bench,  the 
echoes  of  his  prophetic  warnings  were  still  heard  in 
the  land.  It  happened,  singularly  enough,  that  only 
a  very  few  cases  had  come  before  Jay  and  Ellsworth 
which  involved  important  questions  of  constitutional 
law.  The  Constitution  was  yet  to  be  expounded. 
Its  slumbering  powers  were  to  be  evoked,  and  its 
principles  applied,  as  well  to  the  delicate  net-work 
which  bound  the  thirteen  commonwealths  together 
in  a  compact  Union,  as  to  questions  of  personal 
right  and  liberty.  These  proud  commonwealths 
were  waiting  to  hear  whether,  in  escaping  from  the 
thraldom  of  one  master,  the  Kevolution  had  given 
them  another.  They  were  waiting  to  be  told  what 
3 


34 

rights  they  had  relinquished  for  the  common  good ; 
and   how  far   they   had  curtailed  their  own   sove- 
reignty  for    the    promised   but,    as    yet,    uncertain 
advantages   of    a   consolidated    government.       The 
lesson  was  not  an  inviting  one,  and  there  was  but 
one  school  in  which  it  could  be  learned.     For  how- 
ever ample  the  discussions  which  had  been  elicited 
by  the  Federal  Constitution;  with  whatever  ability 
it   had    been  canvassed   in    the    Convention  which 
formed  it,  in  the  Conventions  which  adopted  it,  by 
the  press,  and  by  the  people  at  large,  the  country 
did  not  and  could  not  know  ivhat  the  Constitution 
really  was,  until  it  had  been  subjected  to  the  keen 
scrutiny  of  the  Judiciary.      Its  own   terms  vested 
this  high  prerogative  in  the  Supreme  Court;  and 
the  country  was  now  to  hear  the  first  utterances  of 
that    oracle   whose   voice    it    had   bound    itself    to 
reverence  as  paramount   to  every  other  except  the 
voice  of  God.     The  formal  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution had  been  carried  in  some  of  the  States  by  a 
bare    majority;    and   in   nearly   all    it   encountered 
serious  opposition.      In   one  of  the  numerous  elo- 
quent speeches  with  which  Henry  had  opposed  it 
in  the  Virginia  Convention,  he  went  so  far  as   to 
say,  "  I  would  rather  infinitely — and  I  am  sure  most 
of  this  Convention  are  of  the  same  opinion — have  a 
King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  than  a  government  so 


35 

replete  with  such  insupportable  evils."*  The  Con- 
vention of  North  Carolina  had  been  told  that 
"instead  of  securing  the  rights  of  the  States,  the 
Constitution  would  melt  them  down  into  one  solid 
empire."!  New  York  had  been  told  that,  if  not 
amended,  "  not  even  the  shadow  of  liberty  would 
be  left  to  the  States,  as  States.":!:  Pennsylvania  had 
been  told  that  in  adopting  this  government  "  they 
were  laying  a  foundation  on  which  might  be  erected 
as  complete  a  tyranny  as  could  be  found  in  the 
Eastern  world.  "§  The  lapse  of  twelve  years  had 
not  obliterated  these  auguries  from  the  public  mind. 
The  States  were  well  aware  that  many  of  the 
powers  of  the  Constitution  were  as  yet  latent ;  and 
they  waited  with  deep  solicitude  to  see  the  seals 
loosed,  and  the  book  opened  which  was  to  decide 
their  future  destiny. 

In  the  wise  and  gracious  ordering  of  our  Heavenly 
Father,  this  high  duty  devolved,  not  exclusively — for 
he  had  able  and  excellent  associates — but  mainly, 
upon  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  That  all-wise  Provi- 
dence which  ever  prepares  fit  instruments  for  its 
chosen  ends,  had  been  silently  training  him  for  his 
great   work.       Gifted    with    extraordinary    natural 

*  Elliot's  Debates,  iii.  59.  f  Id.  p.  202. 

X  Id.  ii.  386.  §  Id.  p.  402. 


36 

abilities,  he  had  been  conducted  through  a  variety 
of  changes  adapted  to  unfold  and  mature  his  powers, 
to  familiarize  him  with  our  history,  and  to  give  him 
that  personal  knowledge  of  the  wants  and  weak- 
nesses, the  dangers  and  capacities,  of  the  Union, 
which  experience  alone  could  supply.  From  17T6  to 
1781,  he  was  in  active  service  with  the  army  of  the 
Revolution.  He  was  repeatedly  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature.  He  sat  in  the  Convention  of 
that  State  which  met  to  consider  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution. At  a  later  period  he  was  sent  as  Envoy 
Extraordinary  to  France,  and  in  1799  was  a  member 
of  Congress.  The  period  here  defined  was  one  in 
which  the  public  mind  was  stirred  to  its  lowest 
depths  with  the  earnest  discussion,  all  over  the  land, 
of  great  questions  of  policy  and  jurisprudence. 

It  will  be  deemed  no  disparagement  to  the  other 
States  to  say,  that  in  these  discussions,  Virginia 
took  the  lead.  It  was  her  Augustan  age.  She 
could  have  spared  orators  and  statesmen  enough  to 
endow  two  or  three  commonwealths,  without  impo- 
verishing herself.  As  no  other  State  could  have 
supplied  Washington  with  the  military  experience 
so  indispensable  to  the  post  for  which  Providence 
designed  him,  so  it  was  the  only  State  in  which 
Marshall  could  have  been  thoroughly  trained  for  his 
mission.     Not  simply  an  observer,  but  a  resolute  and 


37 

prominent  actor  in  the  controversies  of  the  day,  he 
had  mastered  the  true  theory  of  our  Goverment,  and 
explored  it  from  foundation  to  turret,  before  he  was 
summoned  to  administer  one  of  its  three  great 
departments.  He  must  be  a  perverse  unbeHever 
who  is  not  ready  to  say,  "The  finger  of  God  is 
here!" 

Of  the  manner  in  which  he  acquitted  himself  in 
this  elevated  and  most  difficult  office,  there  can  be 
no  occasion  for  me  to  speak.  Others  have  spoken 
who  .are  entitled  to  be  heard.  In  the  discourses 
occasioned  by  his  lamented  death  in  this  city,  (July 
6,  1835,)  eulogy  fairly  exhausted  itself.  And  what 
is  more  remarkable,  no  one,  it  is  believed,  was  ever 
heard  to  complain  that  his  panegyrists  had  trans- 
cended the  limits  of  sober  truth.  With  such 
wisdom,  such  profound  knowledge  of  the  law  in 
every  branch  of  Jurisprudence,  such  unswerving 
devotion  to  the  Constitution  and  to  the  rights  as 
well  of  the  States  as  of  the  general  Government, 
such  spotless  integrity,  such  courtesy  and  candour, 
such  benevolence  and  gentleness,  had  he  borne  the 
weighty  and  perilous  honours  of  his  position,  that 
the  feeling  of  the  people,  even  of  those  who  had 
never  seen  him,  was,  that  nothing  which  the  fore- 
most men  of  the  nation  could  say,  was  too  good  to 
be   said   of  the   departed   Chief  Justice.      By  the 


38 

graces  of  his  personal-  character,  he  had  endeared 
himself  to  all  who  came  within  the  charmed  sphere 
of  his  social  life.  His  unaffected  piety  lent  new 
beauty  to  the  mellowing  influence  of  age.  A  single 
stroke  will  do  more  to  show  what  he  was,  than 
pages  of  description.  His  daughter  relates*  that 
she  had  it  from  his  own  lips,  that  he  never  went  to 
bed  without  concluding  his  prayers  with  those  which 
his  mother  taught  him  when  a  child,  viz..  The  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  Watts's  cradle  stanza, 

"Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep." 

Here,  surely,  is  a  spectacle  to  move  any  heart  not 
bereft  of  sensibility.  This  man  of  lofty  stature  and 
of  loftier  station;  "the  Expounder  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,"  endowed  with  every 
quality  of  mind  and  heart  which  could  shed  lustre 
upon  his  high  position,  and  when  he  opened  his  lips 
to  deliver  an  opinion,  listened  to  by  the  magnates 
of  the  land  with  a  reverence  they  accorded  to  no 
other  human  being;  this  man,  in  his  green  old  age, 
with  all  his  honours  thick  upon  him,  bowing  down 
at  his  bed-side  night  after  night  before  the  Infinite 
One,  and  with  clasped  hands  and  gentle  voice 
breathing  into  his  Father's  ear  the  sweet  prayer  of 
his  childhood: 

*  Flanders'  "Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices/'  ii.  548. 


39 

*'Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  tlie  Lord  my  soul  to  keep; 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take." 

Dear  old  man,  is  it  wonderful  that  he  should  have 
a  place  "in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen"] 

As  regards  the  Judicial  services  of  this  great  man, 
I  shall  refer  to  them  very  briefly,  and  in  the  words 
of  our  own  revered  and  honoured  townsman,  (senis 
in  coeliim  redeat!)  of  whom  it  must  suffice  to  say, 
that  if  he  had  been  called  to  sit  in  Marshall's  seat, 
the  entire  Profession  would  have  said,  "It  is  well." 
I  quote  a  paragraph  bearing  upon  the  topics  chiefly 
dwelt  upon  in  this  discourse,  and  most  vitally  con- 
nected w^ith  our  national  welfare.  The  extract 
may  serve  to  illustrate  the  estimate  formed  of  him 
by  William  Pinkney,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
men  that  ever  adorned  the  Federal  Bar,  who  said  of 
Marshall,  the  first  time  he  heard  him  deliver  an 
opinion,  that,  "he  was  born  to  be  the  Chief  Justice 
of  any  country  into  which  Providence  should  have 
cast  him." 

"The  day  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall's  appointment 
will  ever  be  regarded  as  an  epoch  in  the  history  of 
the  Constitution.  The  rules  of  its  interpretation 
were  still  to  be  settled,  and  the  meaning  of  its 
doubtful  clauses  to  be  fixed  by  that  authority  which, 


40 

under  the  Constitution,  is  final,  and  some  of  them 
regarded  nothing  less  than  the  action  of  States  and 
the  government  of  a  nation.  To  have  erred,  would 
have  been  to  throw  into  disorder  and  convulsion  the 
movements  of  the  entire  system.  To  have  been  sus- 
pected of  incompetency,  would  have  been  to  strike 
out  the  department  from  the  hearts  of  the  people, 
and  to  have  left  the  Union  without  a  Judiciary. 
What  greater  responsibility  ever  rested  upon  the 
judgments  of  a  court]  What  greater  triumph  to 
human  intellect  and  virtue,  than  effectually  to 
accomplish  so  great  a  work]  What  nobler  destiny 
than  to  be  appointed  and  qualified  for  the  service"? 
What  eulogy  is  equal  to  so  great  a  name,  as  that  of 
a  man,  who  gave  the  last  sands  of  his  life,  to  his 
eightieth  year,  in  completing  so  much  of  it,  and  in 
tracing  the  plan  of  all  that  is  to  be  done  hereafter'? 
Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  I  claim  for  him  the  exclu- 
sive merit.  His  modesty  would  reject  it.  Justice 
withholds  it.  He  has  had  by  his  side  men  now 
resting  from  their  labours  like  himself,  and  men  still 
living  to  continue  them,  who  have  contributed  by 
their  talents  and  learning  to  all  that  has  been  done, 
and  will  ever  be  honoured  for  it  by  their  country. 
But  it  is  both  their  praise  and  his,  that  they  have 
improved  their  own  powers  by  the  inspiration  of  his 
wisdom,  and  have  been  raised  to  their  eminence,  in 


41 

part,  by  the  attraction  of  his  example.  In  him  his 
comitry  have  seen  that  triple  union  of  lawyer,  states- 
man, and  patriot,  which  completes  the  frame  of  a 
great  constitutional  Judge ;  and  if  we  add  to  it  "  the 
heart  of  the  wise  man"  inspired  with  the  love  of 
God,  of  country,  and  of  mankind,  and  showing  it  in 
the  walks  of  private  life,  as  well  as  on  the  judgment- 
seat,  while  we  have  that  which  the  course  of  the 
world  very  rarely  exhibits,  we  have  no  more  than, 
for  the  example  of  the  world,  has  been  bestowed 
upon  our  country."* 

Of  the  learned  and  upright  jurist  who  succeeded 
Marshall,  and  the  distinguished  men  associated  with 
him,  you  will  not  expect  me  to  speak. 

In  selecting  this  unusual  topic  for  a  Thanksgiving 
Discourse,  I  have  already  intimated  that  its  being 
"unusual"  was  one  of  the  considerations  which  com- 
mended it  to  my  choice.  Not  that  any  stress  is  to 
be  laid,  in  a  question  of  this  sort,  upon  mere  novelty. 
But  here  was  a  long-standing  debt  of  gratitude  to  be 
paid.  Here  was  one  of  our  greatest  national  bless- 
ings unchronicled ;  a  blessing  not  held  in  fee  by  a 
single  profession,  but  co-eval  with  the  Government, 
co-extensive  with  the  country,  shared  by  us  all, 
essential  to  us  all,  without  which  there  could  be 

^'-  Mr.  Binney's  Eulogy  on  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  1835. 


42 

neither  personal  security  nor  national  progress. 
Even  the  cursory  glance  we  have  taken  at  our  his- 
tory, must  suffice  to  show  that  without  the  mild, 
equable,  and  constant  pressure  of  the  Judiciary,  the 
old  Confederation  could  never  have  been  moulded 
into  that  strong  and  symmetrical  Union  which,  until 
assailed  with  parricidal  hands,  was  our  joy  and 
pride.  It  was,  in  no  small  degree,  the  firm  and  dis- 
creet action  of  the  Supreme  Court  which  reconciled 
the  discontented  to  the  change ;  which  convinced  all 
classes  that  their  rights  would  be  better  protected  in 
the  Union  than  out  of  it,  and  satisfied  the  States 
that  the  general  Government,  instead  of  despoiling 
them  of  their  independence,  had  placed  it,  within  its 
prescribed  sphere,  upon  firmer  ground,  and  made 
the  interest  of  each  to  blend  with  the  harmony  and 
growth  of  all. 

The  Judicial  power,  which  had  loomed  up  before 
the  disturbed  imaginations  of  so  many  able  men  as 
the  very  symbol  of  tyranny,  came  to  be  regarded, 
and  justly  so,  as  the  stronghold  of  liberty.  Few,  if 
any  of  the  States  have  escaped  its  wholesome  repri- 
mands for  their  forays  upon  the  Constitution;  but 
this,  like  all  domestic  discipline  wisely  administered, 
has  only  cemented  their  attachment  to  the  house- 
hold. Secession  itself  has  been  mute  in  this  pre- 
sence.    So   far  as  I  know,  it  has  made  no  formal 


43 

attempt  to  extenuate  its  stupendous  crime  by  appeal- 
ing to  the  records  of  the  Supreme  Court.  We  may 
even,  by  a  pardonable  anachronism,  quote  its  own 
authority  as  exonerating  this  Court  from  all  respon- 
sibility in  the  premises.  In  a  beautiful  tribute  to 
the  character  of  Marshall  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
the  Charleston  Bar  made  use  of  this  striking  lan- 
guage: "Though  his  authority  as  Chief  Justice  of 
the  United  States  was  protracted  far  beyond  the 
ordinary  term  of  public  life,  no,  man  dared  to  covet 
his  place,  or  express  a  wish  to  see  it  filled  by 
another.  Even  the  spirit  of  ]3arty  respected  the 
unsullied  purity  of  the  Judge ;  and  the  fame  of  the 
Chief  Justice  has  justified  the  wisdom  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  reconciled  the  jealousy  of  freedom  to  the 
independence  of  the  Judiciary."*  No  testimony 
could  go  beyond  this  in  establishing  the  value  of  the 
Federal  Judiciary  as  a  means  of  preserving  our  Gov- 
ernment. If  I  may  seem  to  you  to  have  dwelt  too 
exclusively  upon  this  one  aspect  of  its  powers  and 
results,  let  it  be  noted  that  our  Government  is, 
under  God,  everything  to  us.  If  that  is  gone,  all  is 
gone — all  that  pertains  to  our  civil  and  social  life, 
and  very  much  that  concerns  our  Christianity,  with 
its  infinitude  of  blessings.  Whatever  contributes 
essentially  to  conserve  and  perpetuate  it,  is,  to  that 

*  Yan  Santvoord's  "Lives  of  tlie  Chief  Justices." 


44 


extent,  to  be  recognised  as  the  shield  and  safeguard 
of  our  dearest  rights  and  privileges.  Let  us,  then, 
bring  our  thank-offerings  to  the  altar  to-day,  for  the 
Judicial  system  of  our  country,  and  for  the  great 
and  good  men  who  have  been  raised  up  to  admin- 
ister it. 

This  is  one  of  our  duties :  to  be  thaiikful  to  God 
for  our  Courts  of  Justice.  There  is  another  duty 
no  less  obvious:  ive  must  sustain  and  cherish  the 
Judiciary. 

The  reasons  for  this  are  interwoven  with  the  dis- 
cussion in  which  we  have  been  engaged.  The  obli- 
gation rests  alike  upon  the  Government  and  the 
people — upon  the  Governments,  State  and  National, 
in  their  spheres,  and  upon  the  people  in  theirs. 
We  have  dwelt  upon  the  beneficent  influence  of  the 
Judiciary  in  fostering  the  national  life  and  preserv- 
ing the  Union.  It  was  the  feebleness  of  the  Federal 
bond  which  gave  the  founders  of  the  Republic  more 
solicitude  than  any  other  subject.  They  would  have 
made  it  stronger,  but  the  temper  of  the  States  would 
not  bear  it.  The  quarter  from  which  they  appre- 
hended danger,  was  that  from  which  all  our  danger 
has  come  —  the  weakness  of  the  central  power, 
exposed,  as  it  must  necessarily  be,  to  the  aggres- 
sions of  so  many  independent  and  aspiring  States. 
Inheriting  their  principles  and  their  fears,  Marshall 


45 

did  what  he  could  to  invigorate  the  general  Govern- 
ment. To  this  point  tended  the  whole  current  of 
his  judicial  opinions,  during  the  thirty-four  years  he 
sat  upon  the  Bench.  Had  he  and  his  learned  asso- 
ciates adopted  what  is  styled  the  "States  Rights" 
theory  of  the  Constitution,  as  the  basis  of  their 
decisions,  the  Union,  it  is  probable,  would  long  ago 
have  fallen  to  pieces.  Perhaps  the  latent  tenden- 
cies in  that  direction,  before  this  war  broke  out, 
were  more  decided,  even  in  some  of  the  free  States, 
than  was  imagined.  The  war  has  repressed  them 
for  the  time,  and  the  Federal  power  now  shines 
forth  in  its  splendour.  But  this  is  the  effect  of  a 
great  crisis,  and  may  or  may  not  continue.  Thirty 
years  ago,  a  profound  philosopher  and  statesman, 
who,  though  a  foreigner,  has  written  the  ablest  work 
on  our  institutions  since  the  Federalist,  penned 
these  remarks  on  the  topic  before  us: 

"I  am  strangely  mistaken  if  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  be  not  constantly  losing 
strength,  retiring  gradually  from  public  affairs,  and 
narrowing  its  circle  of  action  more  and  more.  It  is 
naturally  feeble,  but  it  now  abandons  even  its  pre- 
tensions to  strength.  On  the  other  hand,  I  thought 
that  I  remarked  a  more  lively  sense  of  indepen- 
dence, and  a  more  decided  attachment  to  provincial 
government  in  the  States.     The  Union  is  to  subsist, 


46 

but  to  subsist  as  a  shadow;  it  is  to  be  strong  in 
certain  cases,  and  weak  in  all  others;  in  time  of 
warfare,  it  is  to  be  able  to  concentrate  all  the  forces 
of  the  nation,  and  all  the  resources  of  the  country, 
in  its  hands;  and  in  time  of  peace,  its  existence  is 
to  be  scarcely  perceptible:  as  if  this  alternate  debil- 
ity and  vigour  were  natural  or  possible 

So  far  is  the  Federal  Government  from  acquiring 
strength,  and  from  threatening  the  sovereignty  of 
the  States,  as  it  grows  older,  that  I  maintain  it  to 
be  growing  weaker  and  weaker,  and  that  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  Union  alone  is  in  danger."* 

These  are  the  words  of  a  far-seeing  man,  and  a 
true  friend  to  our  country.  It  cannot  impair  the 
solemnity  of  the  warning,  that  it  should  coalesce  so 
entirely  with  the  teachings  of  Washington  and 
Hamilton,  of  Jay  and  Marshall.  In  our  jealous 
concern  for  the  rights  of  the  States,  we  must  see  to 
it  that  the  general  Government  be  not  shorn  of  its 
just  prerogatives.  And  if  the  Government  itself  be 
alive  to  the  danger  in  this  direction,  it  will  neglect 
no  suitable  means  for  increasing  the  stability  of  the 
Federal  Judiciary.  For,  if  this  prop  gives  way,  the 
whole  structure  becomes  a  heap  of  ruins.  Two 
things,  in  this  view,  devolve  upon  the  Executive  and 
the  Legislature. 

*  De  Tocqucville. 


47 

111  the  first  place,  they  must  exercise  the  utmost 
caution  in  the  Judicial  appointments.  The  Supreme 
Court  cannot  maintain  its  true  place  in  our  system, 
unless  its  high  functions  be  confided  to  competent 
hands.  It  will  not  do  to  recruit  this  Bench  from  the 
second  and  third  ranks  of  the  Profession.  Nor  will 
it  do  to  make  it  an  asylum  for  unfortunate  poli- 
ticians. It  must  be  expected  that  vacancies  will  be 
filled  from  the  dominant  party,  whatever  that  may 
be.  But  every  one  understands  the  distinction 
between  a  lawyer  who  makes  his  profession  a  hewer 
of  wood  to  his  politics,  and  a  lawyer  who  makes  his 
politics  wait  on  his  profession.  With  the  entire 
Bar  of  the  Union  before  him,  it  were  inexcusable 
in  a  President  to  propose  any  name  for  this  high 
position,  which  would  not  command  the  general 
respect  of  the  country.  We  may  of  right  insist 
that  the  men  who  fill  those  seats,  shall  be  men  of 
undoubted  capacity  and  inflexible  integrity.  No 
others  could  be  safely  entrusted  with  a  power  which 
gives  law  to  thirty  millions  of  people,  and  which  has 
disposed  of  property  worth  an  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  in  a  single  year. 

The  other  duty  which  devolves  upon  the  co-ordi- 
nate departments,  is  that  of  respecting  the  powers  of 
the  Judiciary,  and  enforcing  its  decrees.  Not  to  do 
this,   would  be  suicidal.      For  the  Government   is 


48 

one ;  and  a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand. 
It  matters  not  that  the  decisions  of  the  Court  may 
sometimes  be  distasteful  to  the  Executive  and  the 
Legislature.  The  Constitution  leaves  them  no  alter- 
native but  to  obey  its  mandates.  Any  other  course 
on  [their  part  would  be  adapted  to  prostrate  the 
authority  of  the  Government.  For  so  pernicious  an 
example  could  not  fail  to  spread  a  fatal  infection 
through  the  body  politic.  There  are  not  wanting 
instances  in  which  States  have  taken  it  upon  them- 
selves to  contemn  the  opinions  of  the  Judiciary. 
Pennsylvania  once  called  out  troops  to  resist  its 
authority.  But  it  was  only  a  paroxysm  of  offended 
dignity,  and  the  State  soon  bowed  to  the  Constitu- 
tional edict.  In  a  much  more  memorable  instance, 
Georgia  set  the  Court  at  defiance,  and  kept  the  doors 
of  her  penitentiary  locked  upon  two  faithful  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel,  for  eighteen  months  after  Judge 
Marshall  had  pronounced  the  law  under  which  they 
were  condemned,  null  and  void.  More  recently,  a 
decree  of  this  Bench  has  occasioned  an  intense 
popular  excitement,  spreading  through  a  dozen 
States,  and  venting  itself  in  bitter  invectives  against 
the  Court: — a  decree,  I  may  add,  which  was  received 
with  equal  astonishment  and  regret  by  many  who 
gave  no  countenance  to  these  assaults  upon  the 
personal  integrity  of  the  Judges.     Examples  of  this 


49 

kind  are  not  incompatible  with  the  statement  that 
the    Supreme   Court,    on    the    whole,    retains    and 
deserves,  in  a  signal  degree,  the  confidence  of  the 
country.      But  they  are  portents  which  a  wise  man 
will  heed.      They  show  that  this  Court  requires  all 
the  moral  support  to  be  derived  from  the  cordial 
sympathy  of  the  Executive  and  the  Legislature.     If 
they  would  have  the  people  sustain  it,  they  must  not 
discredit  it  themselves.     When  they  begin  to  arro- 
gate its  powers,  or  to  tread  its  opinions  in  the  dust, 
they  naay  bespeak  some  one  to  write  its  epitaph — 
and  their  own.. 

The  obligation  to  cherish  the  Judiciary,  I  have 
said,  rests  no  less  upon  the  people,  than  upon  the 
Government. 

Common  gratitude  demands  this.  If  we  have 
received  from  the  Judicial  power  a  tithe  of  the 
benefits  traced  to  its  agency  in  this  discourse,  it  has 
laid  us  under  obligations  we  can  never  repay. 
Besides  this,  the  solemnity  and  delicacy  of  their 
functions,  (I  am  speaking  of  the  Federal  Judges,) 
entitle  them  to  the  generous  sympathy  of  the  public. 
As  the  arbitrators  between  our  several  systems  of 
government,  they  are  charged  with  the  gravest 
responsibilities,  and  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  attacks 
of  mortified  pride  and  disappointed  ambition.  The 
people  whom  they  shield  from  so  many  evils,  are 

4: 


50 

bound  in  honour  to  protect  them,  as  far  as  may  be, 
against  such  assaults,  and  to  sustain  them  in  the 
fearless  discharge  of  their  high  duties. 

But  they  have  a  still  stronger  title  to  our  support. 
We  ought  to  cherish  the  Judicial  power  because  it 
is  the  citadel  of  our  liberties.  The  founders  of  our 
institutions  were  men  deeply  versed  in  the  science 
of  government.  They  had  explored  the  hidden 
causes  which  have  changed  so  many  good  govern- 
ments into  bad  ones.  Experience  had  taught  them 
that  unless  the  liberty  of  the  citizen  was  guarded  as 
by  "  munitions  of  rocks,"  it  would  sooner  or  later  be 
extinguished.  Impressed  with  this  conviction,  they 
deemed  it  unsafe  to  commit  this  sacred  deposit  to 
the  custody  of  either  the  Executive  or  the  Legisla- 
ture. Commencing  with  a  fundamental  law,  as 
already  stated,  they  confided  public  and  private 
liberty  to  the  keeping  of  a  Constitution,  which 
neither  the  Executive  nor  the  Legislature  could  dis- 
turb,— to  which,  indeed,  they  were  themselves  sub- 
ordinate. The  prerogative  of  deciding  whether 
their  acts  were  conformed  to  this  primal  law,  was 
vested  in  the  Courts.  Had  the  Courts  been  made 
dependent  upon  the  other  departments,  they  might 
have  been  prostituted  by  their  masters  to  the  worst 
purposes  of  tyranny.  Our  sages  had  seen  too  much 
of  this  in  the  Old  World,  and  they  eluded  it  by 


51 

making  the  Judiciary  independent.  By  this  system, 
it  will  be  seen,  the  Judiciary  becomes  the  conserva- 
tor of  our  liberties.  It  is  the  protecting  power  of 
all  the  branches  of  the  Government,  because  it  is 
the  guardian  of  the  Constitution.  But  for  its  inter- 
vention, the  Constitution  would  have  perished  long 
ago,  pierced  with  more  wounds,  from  friends  and 
foes  alike,  than  Cccsar  received  in  the  Senate-house. 
It  is  no  less  the  bulwark  which  protects  the  citizen 
against  the  Government.  It  is  the  inalienable  right 
of  every  citizen  to  be  governed  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  land,  and  to  have  those  laws  conformed  to  the 
fundamental  pact. 

There  is  always,  and  every  where,  an  inherent 
tendency  in  executive  and  legislative  power  to 
enlarge  itself.  It  cannot  be  trusted.  Our  country 
is  yet  young;  but  it  is  old  enough  to  have  illustrated 
the  prescient  wisdom  of  its  founders  in  creating  a 
sanctuary  for  those  who  might  suffer  at  the  hands 
of  arbitrary  power.  That  sanctuary  is  the  temple  of 
Justice.  It  may  share  the  fate  of  the  Jewish  tem- 
ple, the  earthly  tabernacle  of  the  Most  High,  and  be 
demolished  by  violence.  If  this  parricidal  war  upon 
the  Union,  which  we  are  contesting  on  a  hundred 
battle  fields,  should  succeed,  it  must  of  course  go 
down  into  the  gulf  which  swallows  up  our  national 
being.     But  to  every  other  form  of  assault  it  may 


52 

and  should  be  made  impregnable.  We  must  encom- 
pass it  with  our  love  and  gratitude.  The  sympa- 
thies, the  prayers,  if  need  be,  the  right  arms,  of  all 
true-hearted  Americans  must  be  invoked  to  guard 
its  awful  shrine  from  desecration.  No  unhallowed 
foot  must  be  permitted  to  cross  that  threshold.  I  do 
not  say  that  there  is  any  danger  of  this  at  present. 
Nor  am  I  speaking  of  what  may  or  may  not  be 
allowable  in  great  crises  of  our  affairs,  when  the 
nation's  life  may  hang  as  by  a  single  thread,  and 
nothing  but  a  prompt  exertion  of  executive  author- 
ity can  save  it  from  extinction.  All  I  say  is,  that 
here  is  the  sanctuary  of  our  liberties;  and  that 
it  must  be  held  inviolate  at  whatever  sacrifice. 
We  must  cherish  the  sentiment,  and  disseminate  it 
among  the  people,  and  transmit  it  to  our  children, 
that  so  long  as  the  Constitution  remains  what  it  is, 
there  is  no  earthly  power  which  may  lawfully  chal- 
lenge the  supremacy  of  the  Judiciary  within  its 
proper  sphere,  or  contest  its  will. 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Fathers.  It  is  the 
principle  which  underlies  the  entire  fabric  of  our 
Government.  It  pervades  and  illumines  every  page 
of  our  annals.  And  the  day  that  sees  the  country, 
whether  in  a  frenzy  of  passion,  or  in  cringing  servil- 
ity to  some  popular  leader,  assail  and  overwhelm  it, 
will  see  a  government  of  law  supplanted  by  a  govern- 


53 

ment  of  force,  and  a  j^reat  nation  putting  on  the 
chains  their  own  hands  have  forged. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Bar — It  would  ill  comport 
with  the  proprieties  of  this  occasion — with  the  place 
where  we  are  assembled,  with  this  day  of  grateful 
praise,  and  with  the  sacred  office  I  am  permitted  to 
bear — should  I  close  this  service  without  adverting 
to  one  other  aspect  of  the  subject  which  has  engaged 
our  attention.  The  bearing  of  this  discussion  upon 
your  personal  responsibilities,  will  not  fail  to  have 
occurred  to  you.  A  stream  cannot  rise  above  its 
fountain.  The  Judiciary  must  take  its  character  from 
the  Bar ;  and  the  Bar  can  never  fill  the  full  measure 
of  its  exalted  sphere,  unless  it  is  pervaded  with  a 
becoming  reverence  for  Him  by  whom  "  princes  rule, 
and  nobles,  even  all  the  Judges  of  the  earth."  It 
was  the  crowning  distinction  of  those  great  Jurists 
who  have  passed  in  review  before  us,  that  they  laid 
their  lofty  attainments  and  their  honours,  a  willing 
sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  God.  With  whatever 
majesty  they  were  enrobed  in  that  high  Court  where 
powerful  States  listened  with  awe  to  their  mandates, 
when  they  went  into  His  presence,  it  was  to  bow 
before  Him  as  miserable  sinners,  confessing  their 
ill-desert,  and  pleading  for  mercy  only  through  "  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb."      The  example  will  commend 


54 

itself  to  your  reflections.  The  proceedings  with 
which  your  lives  are  engi'ossed,  are  but  a  dim  type 
of  that  august  Jurisprudence  of  which  Jehovah 
Himself  is  the  Minister;  which  takes  cognizance  of 
every  thought  of  every  human  heart,  and  will  one 
day  decide  the  eternal  "fates  of  men."  Before  His 
dread  tribunal  we  must  all  be  gathered.  The  purest 
amongst  us  is  not  pure  enough  to  bear  its  scrutiny. 
But  even  the  vilest  will  have  nothing  to  fear,  if  he 
have  a  Friend  in  that  great  Advocate  who  mercifully 
offers  to  appear  for  us.  Let  us  put  our  case  in  His 
hands.  Let  us  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
that  so,  trusting  in  the  blood  of  the  Crucified  One, 
and  relying  upon  His  ever-prevalent  intercession, 
we  may  find  pardon  and  peace  with  God.  This  is 
His  own  counsel;  and  in  that  day  of  days,  no  other 
can  avail  us. 

"What  shall  I,  frail  man,  be  pleading? 
Who  for  me  be  interceding 
When  the  just  are  mercy  needing? 

"  King  of  majesty  tremendous, 
Who  dost  free  salvation  send  us, 
Fount  of  pity !  then  befriend  us  I" 


THANKSGIVING  IN  WAR: 


A  SEHMON,    . 


PREACHED    IN    THE 


TEXTH   PEESBYTEEIAN   CHUECIL 


PHILADELPHIA, 


28th  Day  of  November,  1861. 


HENRY  A.  BOAEDMAN,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

C.    SHERMAN    &    SON,    PRINTERS. 
18  61. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 

This  sermon  is  given  to  the  printer  reluctantly ;  not  from 
any  unwillingness  to  publish  through  the  press  that  Avhich  has 
been  already  published  from  the  jiulpit,  but  from  a  conviction 
that  the  country  is  amply  supplied  with  this  kind  of  literature. 
The  author  yields  his  own  judgment,  however,  to  the  wishes 
of  those  who,  having  heard  the  sermon,  insist  that  its  further 
circulation  may  do  some  good. 

Philadelphia,  December  10,  1861. 


THANKSGIYING  IN  WAE. 


PSALM  89  :  30-33. 


"If  his  children  forsake  mt  l.uv,  and  walk  not  in  my  judgments; 
if  they  break  my  statutes  and  keep  not  my  commandments  ;  then  will 
i  visit  their  transgression  with  the  rod,  and  their  iniquity  with 
STRIPES.     Nevertheless,  my'  loving-kindness  will  I  not  utterly  take 

FROM  HIM,  NOR  SUFFER  MY  FAITHFULNESS  TO  FAIL." 

There  are  doubtless  those  to  whom  this  "  Day  of 
Thanksgiving"  will  seem  an  unseasonable  observance. 
"  We  have  exchanged,"  they  will  say,  "  the  inestimable 
blessings  of  peace  for  the  horrors  of  War.  Our  Union 
is  dismembered.  Vast  armies  are  marshalling  for  bloody 
conflict.  A  hundred  hospitals  are  already  filled  with 
the  sick  and  wounded.  Commerce  is  paralyzed.  On 
every  side  there  is  want  and  sufl"ering.  Surely,  a  Day 
of  Humiliation  would  better  become  us  than  a  Day  of 
Thanksgiving." — We  will  not  deny  that  there  is  some 
force  in  this  reasoning.  The  statement  of  facts,  though 
incomplete,  is  accurate.  We  are  willing  to  concede 
that  the  case  is  much  stronger  than  it  is  here  repre- 
sented.    Not  only  are  these  calamities  upon  us,  but 


they  are  sent,  as  we  verily  believe,  in  retribution  of  our 
sins.  The  hand  of  God  is  in  them.  He  is  visiting 
upon  us  the  threatenings  he  denounced  against  his  an- 
cient people, — and  for  a  similar  reason.  "  If  his  chil- 
dren forsake  my  law,  and  walk  not  in  my  judgments  ; 
if  they  break  my  statutes,  and  keep  not  my  command- 
ments ;  then  will  I  visit  their  transgression  with  the 
rod,  and  their  iniquity  with  stripes."  Here  we  may 
read  both  our  sin  and  our  punishment.  We  have,  as  a 
nation,  forsaken  God's  law,  and  broken  his  statutes ; 
we  have  resisted  his  authority  and  abused  his  forbear- 
ance ;  we  have  sinned  against  him  so  long  and  so  auda- 
ciously, that  his  patience  was  exhausted : — and  he  is 
now  visiting  our  transgression  with  the  rod,  and  our 
iniquity  with  stripes. 

We  admit,  further,  that  our  first  duty  in  these  circum- 
stances is  repentance  and  humiliation.  We  have  no 
ground  to  expect  a  return  of  the  Divine  favor,  unless  we 
"  humble  ourselves  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God."  But 
we  have  recognized  this  obligation,  not  in  words  only  but 
in  deeds.  The  nation  has  had  its  Day  of  Humiliation. 
Our  own  Church  had  previously  observed  its  Day  of 
Humiliation.  It  is  not  to  be  questioned,  that  there 
has  been  much  searching  of  heart  and  contrition  among 
the  Christian  people  of  the  land  in  their  private  capacity. 
All  this  must,  indeed,  come  short  of  the  measure  of 
humiliation  which  becomes  us.  Our  repentance  ought 
to  be  much  deeper  and  more  universal.     Still,  the  duty 


has  not  been  altogether  overlooked,  nor  will  it  be  for 
the  future. 

That,  however,  is  not  our  whole  duty.  It  might  be, 
peradventure,  if  the  dispensation  under  which  we  are 
living,  were  exclusively  one  of  judgment  or  rebuke. 
But  it  is  not.  There  is  mercy  as  well  as  severity.  Of 
us  also  our  Heavenly  Father  has  been  pleased  to  say, 
"Nevertheless,  my  loving-kindness  will  I  not  utterly 
take  from  him,  nor  suffer  my  faithfulness  to  fail."  We 
are  all  witnesses  that  this  is  true.  He  has  not  given 
us  over  to  the  full  consequences  of  our  sins.  The  clouds 
which  have  infolded  us  for  the  last  twelve  months,  have 
been  broken  with  gleams  of  sunshine.  There  has 
been  no  day  so  dark,  that  a  spiritual  eye  could  not  dis- 
cern through  its  gloom  the  tokens  of  His  "  faithfulness" 
and  "  loving-kindness." — And  are  these  mercies  to  go 
unacknowledged  ^  Is  it  not  as  much  a  duty  to  praise 
God  for  his  blessings,  as  to  abase  ourselves  under  his 
chastisements  1  Are  we  always  to  come  before  him 
with  notes  of  wailing ;  never  with  songs  of  praise  1 

Besides,  this  occasion  has  become  an  annual  festival. 
"Were  the  question  one  of  instituting  a  Day  of  Thanks- 
giving now,  there  might  be  some  room  for  a  difference 
of  opinion.  But  to  omit  such  a  service  after  it  has  made 
for  itself  a  fixed  place  in  our  calendar,  would  be  a  re- 
proach alike  to  our  patriotism  and  our  piety.  It  would 
imply  that  a  year  had  at  length  come  round  which 
brought  with  it  no  pledges  of  the  Divine  protection,  no 


8 


fruits  of  his  bounty,  nothing  to  be  thankful  for.  If 
there  be  any  who  feel  thus  respecting  the  past  year, 
they  will  have  no  sympathy  with  this  festival.  For  the 
rest  of  us — "  O  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord :  let  us 
make  a  joyful  noise  to  the  Rock  of  our  Salvation.  Let 
us  come  before  his  presence  with  thanksgiving,  and 
make  a  joyful  noise  unto  him  with  psalms." 

In  doing  this,  you  will  of  course  wish  to  have  your 
thoughts  directed  mainly  to  considerations  which  per- 
tain to  the  state  of  the  country.     Let  me  advert,  then, 

to  a  FEW  OF  THE  GROUNDS  OF  NATIONAL  THANKSGIVING 
WHICH  ARE   SUGGESTED  BY  THE  HISTORY  AND    PROGRESS  OF 

THIS  War. 

One  of  these  is,  that  in  respect  to  our  most  valued 
riglits  mid  privileges^  the  tear  has  not  molested  us. 

In  saying  this,  I  have  no  design  to  underrate  the 
gravity  of  the  contest  in  which  we  are  engaged.  I 
assent  to  the  maxim  which  has  become  so  current 
amongst  us,  that  "  of  all  wars,  civil  war  is  the  worst," 
with  a  single  qualification.  I  believe,  too,  that  we  do 
not  exaggerate  the  importance  of  this  conflict  when 
we  say,  that  even  among  the  civil  wars  of  which  his- 
tory has  preserved  a  record,  our  own  may  claim  a  sad 
pre-eminence,  if  estimated  by  the  magnitude  of  the 
issues  it  involves.  But  there  is  one  thing  worse  than 
civil  war.  You  will  understand  me  when  I  refer  you 
to  the  annals  of  the  Waldenses,  to  the  martyrology  of 
the  Huguenots,  and  to  the  history  of  England  under 


"  Bloody  Mary."  Our  political  rights  and  franchises 
are  the  fruit  of  centuries  of  conflict  in  the  senate  and 
in  the  field,  and  we  may  be  willing  to  hazard  our  lives 
in  defence  of  them.  But  they  are  not  to  be  weighed 
against  religious  liberty,  and  the  hopes  and  consola- 
tions of  Christianity.  The  war  which  is  aimed  at 
these,  which  employs  dungeons  and  fagots  to  despoil 
a  people  of  their  spiritual  hfe,  and  force  upon  them  a 
spurious  and  revolting  faith,  has  a  more  fiend-like  ma- 
lignity than  any  assault  upon  charters  and  constitu- 
tions. Let  ns  be  thankful  to  God  that  there  is  no 
element  of  this  sort  mingled  in  this  unhappy  contest ; 
that  the  rights  of  conscience  are  held  sacred,  and  that 
there  is  no  disposition  in  any  quarter  to  interfere  with 
the  hberty  of  opinion  and  of  worship. 

It  is  another  cause  for  thanksgiving,  that  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  Union  has  remained  loyal  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, eve7i  in  the  face  of  a  civil  war. 

It  must  indeed  be  conceded,  that  Secession  has  made 
greater  inroads  upon  the  Union,  than  could  have  been 
anticipated  even  by  its  chief  abettors.  The  strong 
logic  of  events  has  shown  us,  that  the  Union  held  no 
such  place  in  the  hearts  of  one  part  of  the  nation  as 
we  had  all  been  wont  to  suppose.  The  ready  abandon- 
ment of  it  by  so  many  States  has  struck  the  rest  of  the 
country  with  astonishment.  For  history  teaches,  that 
the  very  last  thing  a  nation  can  be  persuaded  to  do  is 
to  change  its  government.     Before   a  people   can   be 


10 


wrought  up  to  this  point,  their  government  must,  in 
ordinary  cases,  he  perverted  into  an  engine  of  tyranny, 
and  they  must  have  been  subjected  to  years  of  injustice 
and  oppression.  But  here  was  an  effort  to  destroy  a 
government  the  mildest,  the  freest,  the  most  equitable 
on  the  face  of  the  earth, — a  government  so  gentle  in 
its  working,  that  no  law-abiding  citizen  felt  its  pressure, 
or  was  ever  reminded  of  its  existence,  except  when  he 
bethought  himself  of  the  eminent  civil  rights  and 
privileges  it  conferred  upon  him.  That  several  millions 
of  people  should  conspire  to  overthrow  a  government 
like  this,  was  a  phenomenon  as  much  without  historical 
precedent,  as  it  was  without  justice  or  decency. 
The  country  and  the  world  could  not  but  stand  amazed 
at  the  revolting  spectacle. 

But  bad  as  the  case  is,  it  might  have  been  worse.  It 
is  clearly  an  instance  of  a  virulent  moral  insanity,  spread- 
ing itself  like  an  epidemic  over  a  vast  region  of  terri- 
tory. Having  acquired  such  a  momentum,  it  is  nearly  as 
great  a  marvel  that  it  sliould  stop  where  it  did,  as  that 
it  should  have  broken  out  at  all.  It  is  a  most  en- 
couraging sign  that  it  left  the  largest  portion  of  the 
Union  untainted.  It  did  not  even  reach  the  slave  line. 
In  every  one  of  the  Southern  Border  States,  it  en- 
countered firm  resistance.  Four  of  those  five  States 
have  shown  a  fixed  purpose  to  drive  it  from  that  part 
of  their  soil  which  it  had  polluted,  and  of  the  fifth, 
one-third  of  the  population  has  testified  its  abhorrence 
of  the  evil  by  organizing  a  new  State  government. 


11 


The  comparative  value  in  square  miles  of  the  two 
sections  of  the  Union,  as  thus  divided,  is  of  small 
moment.  Enough,  that  in  population,  in  manufac- 
tures, in  commerce,  in  schools,  and  colleges,  and 
churches,  in  general  intelligence,  thrift,  and  enter- 
prise, the  immense  preponderance  is  with  the  loyal 
States.  A  nation  composed  of  these  States  alone, 
would  be  entitled  to  take  its  place  among  the  leading- 
powers  of  the  globe.  We  may  well  offer  our  thanks- 
givings to  God,  that  the  strength  and  majesty  of  our 
Union  are  arrayed  on  the  side  of  law  and  righteousness. 

It  is  only  presenting  this  thought  in  another  aspect, 
to  suggest  that  the  jxttriotism  of  the  country  deserves  to 
be  celebrated  with  devout  thanksgivings  to-day.  The 
change  which  has  passed  over  us  wdthin  the  last  few 
months,  is  as  much  without  a  parallel  as  is  this  insane 
attempt  to  overthrow  the  government.  We  are  not  a 
military  nation ;  it  is  no  reproach  to  us.  The  character 
we  bear  among  other  nations,  is  that  of  a  money-loving 
and  money-getting  people.  Whether  it  is  quite  mo- 
dest for  those  from  whom  we  inherit  this  trait  to 
upbraid  us  wdth  it,  we  need  not  stop  to  argue.  The 
indictment  is  faithfully  drawn,  and  we  plead  to  it  by 
confessing  its  truth.  Never  was  a  people  more  im- 
mersed in  trade  and  traffic.  With  a  new  continent  to 
take  possession  of,  a  soil  and  climate  favorable  to 
health  and  boundless  production,  institutions  adapted 
to    stimulate   individual   industry   and   talent   to    the 


12 


highest  degree,  and  fresh  avenues  to  wealth  and  honor 
continually  opening  on  every  side,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  we  should  have  become  a  money-making 
nation.     Let  us  not  shrink  from  the  admission ;  this 
passion  had  gone  to  a  discreditable  extreme  with  us. 
It  required  all  the  efforts  of  all  the  men  of  culture, 
and  the  whole  power  and  energy  of  our  Christianity,  to 
combat    these   grovelling    tendencies,    and    keep   the 
nation  from  stereotyping  itself  in  a  mould  of  sordid 
cupidity  and  arrogant  pretension.     No  one  could  have 
imagined,  that  underneath  this  broad  surface-work  of 
eager  toil  and  deceptive  glitter, — down  below  the  deep 
springs  of  all  our  mechanical  and  commercial  activities, 
— the  fires  of  patriotism  were  burning  as  brightly  as 
they  did  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.     But  it  was 
even  so.     It  required  only  a  fitting  occasion  to  call  it 
into  action.     That  occasion  was  given  by  the  parricidal 
attack  upon  Fort  Sumter.     The  echoes  of  those  traitor- 
ous cannon  rang  through  the  nation's  heart,  and  its 
slumbering  patriotism  burst  forth  with  a  vehemence 
which    swept    everything   before   it.       The    army   of 
seventy-five  thousand  men,  which   was    extemporized 
as  by  some  magic  power  for  the  protection  of  the  Capi- 
tal, was  the  first  emphatic,  tangible    proof,  that  the 
love  of  country  was  as  strong  and  pure  amongst  us  as 
ever.      Decisive  as  the  evidence  was  then,  it  is  still 
more  so  now.     An  adversary  might  have  suggested, 
that  the  extraordinary  response  which  was  made  to  the 


13 


President's  proclamation  of  the  15th  of  xlpril,  was  a 
mere  ebnllition  of  passion  wliich  wonlcl  soon  subside. 
So  far  from  this,  the  sentiment  which  inspired  that 
movement,  though  less  impetuous,  has  been  growing 
deeper  and  broader  ever  since.  What  is  especially  to 
be  noted  concerning  it  is,  that  it  has  spread  through 
the  most  cautious  and  .^conservative  classes  of  society. — 
and  that  by  a  perfectly  intelligible  process.  For  the 
course  of  events  has  disclosed  a  cumulative  series  of 
proofs,  that  this  rebellion  was  concocted  many  years 
ago ;  that  its  leaders  have  kept  it  in  view  as  their 
idtimate  object  through  all  the  collisions  of  parties, 
and  all  the  changes  in  our  public  affairs ;  that  they 
ignominiously  availed  themselves  of  the  very  immuni- 
ties the  Constitution  afforded  them,  not  excluding  even 
official  place  and  power,  to  plot  the  subversion  of  the 
Government ;  and  that  the  various  alleged  grievances 
which  they  put  forward  in  newspaper  articles,  in  legisla- 
tive debate,  and  in  inflammatory  appeals  to  their  con- 
stituents, were  mere  pretexts  designed  to  cloak  their 
real  designs  and  help  on  their  consummation.  It  is 
this  conviction,  I  say,  founded  upon  absolute  moral 
demonstration,  which  has  brought  the  most  prudent 
and  conservative  classes  of  society  into  full  sympathy 
with  this  war  for  the  defence  of  the  Union.  They  feel 
that  they  have  been  misled  and  betrayed.  In  giving 
their  sympathy  and  support  for  years  past,  to  those 
who  have  become  the  master-spirits  in  this  movement. 


14 


they  supposed  they  were  dealing  with  men  who,  like 
themselves,  were  seeking  in  good  faith  to  preserve  the 
Union.  And  now,  that  the  treachery  is  laid  open,  and 
they  see  that  during  all  this  while,  the  one  cherished 
object  of  these  men  was  to  destroy  the  Union,  tliey 
have  the  double  motive  of  personal  wrong  and  public 
duty  to  inflame  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of 
their  country. 

It  may  serve  both  as  argument  and  illustration  on 
this  point,  to  refer  to  the  financial  provision  made  for 
carrying  on  this  contest.  Other  tokens  of  patriotism 
may  arrest  the  popular  eye,  but  there  is  really  none 
more  signal  than  this.  Of  all  the  creations  of  Christian 
civilization,  there  is  none  so  sensitive  and  timid  as 
capital.  On  the  first  breath  of  danger,  it  flies  to  its 
secret  asylums  as  frightened  birds  to  their  nests.  And 
the  very  name  of  war  strikes  it  with  a  horror  like  that 
of  the  Babylonian  monarch,  when  he  saw  the  hand- 
writing upon  the  wall.  But  here,  the  unwonted  spec- 
tacle is  presented  to  the  world,  of  the  capital  of  the 
country  rushing  spontaneously  into  the  very  embrace 
of  war.  The  noise  of  battle  has  actually  allured  it 
from  its  coverts.  Our  rich  men,  even  many  who  are 
threatened  with  the  loss  of  their  thousands  and  millions 
at  the  South,  are  laying  their  silver  and  gold  at  the 
feet  of  the  government,  while  multitudes  in  humbler 
circumstances  are  offering  the  funds  upon  which  they 
depend  for  a  comfortable  support.     Without  assuming 


15 


that  there  is  no  other  motive  concerned  in  these  trans- 
actions, we  may  safely  challenge  this  as  an  evidence  of 
patriotism,  Avhich  has  rarely  been  exceeded  by  any 
people  in  any  age  or  country. 

But  the  most  imposing  exhibition  of  this  sentiment 
is  undoubtedly  that  presented  by  our  army.  We  admit 
no  qualification  here  when  we  assert,  that  the  world 
has  never  before  witnessed  such  a  spectacle.  Here  is 
an  army  of  500,000  men  raised  in  six  months,  and  not 
a  conscript  among  them.  They  are  all  volunteers. 
I  do  not  say  that  they  have  all  enlisted  from  pure  pa- 
triotism, but  I  do  say  that  there  are  tens  of  thousands 
of  them  whom  nothing  but  love  of  country  could  have 
carried  into  the  camp,  and  that  they  have  all  avowed, 
by  the  fact  of  their  enlistment,  that  they  are  ready  to 
hazard  their  lives  in  defence  of  their  country.  Nor  is 
it  by  its  numbers  merely  that  this  great  force  is  to  be 
estimated.  Even  prejudiced  foreigners  have  put  it  on 
record,  that  no  European  army  has  been  made  up  of 
such  material.  There  are,  of  course,  regiments  which 
may  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  remark,  but 
taken  as  a  whole,  no  people  ever  sent  into  the  field  so 
large  a  body  of  men  of  the  same  intellectual  and  social 
standing, — nor,  it  is  safe  to  add,  containing  so  many 
faithful  Christians.  Not  to  argue  these  points,  let  it 
suffice  to  point  to  the  interest  displayed  throughout 
the  service  in  public  and  social  religious  services,  both 
on   Sundays   and   during    the   week ;    the    universal 


16 


demand  for  books  of  all  sorts,  and  the  enormous  army 
mails,  which  fairly  groan  under  the  weight  of  the 
letters  sent  home  from  the  different  camps.*  These 
are  decisive  indications  of  the  high  moral  and  intellec- 
tual tone  which  pervades  this  noble  army. 

Nor  is  it  confined  to  the  army.  The  picture  has  its 
fitting  consort  in  the  other  branch  of  the  service.  This 
majestic  fleet  along  our  coast  is,  to  a  large  extent,  the 
recent  off"spring  of  the  same  generous  patriotism.  It  is 
essentially  a  volunteer  fleet,  and  it  promises  to  retrieve 
the  damage  inflicted  upon  the  reputation  of  our  gallant 
navy,  by  the  defection  of  so  many  of  its  officers. 

Our  statement,  however,  is  still  incomplete.  The 
army  and  navy  are,  after  all,  under  a  government  like 
ours,  but  exponents  of  the  public  feeling.  The  pa- 
triotism which  animates  them  is  a  twin-flame  of  that 
patriotism  which  glows  and  burns  throughout  the 
nation.  Undoubtedly,  if  there  were  any  serious  appre- 
hension of  danger  to  our  own  homes,  this  sentiment 
would  prompt  to  still  greater  activity.  But  there  is 
apparent  in  every  direction,  a  generous  devotion  to  the 
country,  and  a  willingness  to  sustain  it,  as  God  may 
give  the  ability,  in  this  its  hour  of  trial.  Let  us  ofl'er 
our  thanksgivings  to-day,  that  the  spirit  of  patriotism 
has  survived  our  prolonged  and  enervating  prosperity. 

We  may  find  another  reason  for  gratitude  and  praise, 

*  For  example,  70,000   sent  from   Washington  in   a  single   week,  and 
10,000  by  the  first  mail  from  the  small  force  lately  landed  at  Port  Royal,  S.  C. 


17 


in  the  stimulus  this  icar  lias  given  to  the  humane  iind 
Christian  virtues  amongst  us. 

We  arc  apt  to  think  that  war  is  necessarily  evil,  and 
only  evil,  and  that  continually.  That  it  does  comprise 
more  evils  than  any  other  scourge  with  which  nations 
arc  visited  will  not  he  denied.  But  even  the  grim 
visage  of  war  has  or  may  have  some  lines  of  light,  and 
in  the  present  case,  these  grateful  lineaments  are  so 
conspicuous  that  no  one  can  overlook  them. 

It  was  the  remark  of  a  very  eminent  British  writer, 
in  commenting  a  few  years  since  upon  the  vainited 
progress  of  the  United  States,  that  this  country  '•  had 
never  yet  been  tried ^^^  and  that  "  it  was  too  soon  to  pass 
upon  our  character  until  wc  had  been  cast  into  the 
crucible  by  which  all  the  older  nations  had  been  tested." 
That  trial  has  now  come.  It  bids  fair  to  do  us  good. 
Virtue  is  the  fruit  of  discipline.  This  war  promises  to 
arrest  in  a  measure  the  extravagance  and  parade,  the 
epicurism  and  effeminacy  into  which  we  were  so  fast 
running.  It  puts  our  young  men  upon  a  training 
which  will  nourish  their  manly  virtues.  It  inculcates, 
as  no  moralist  could,  lessons  of  economy,  of  moderation, 
of  patience,  of  self-control.  It  fosters  genuine  sym- 
pathy and  benevolence.  This  half  million  of  men  in 
the  field  are  linked  by  innumerable  ties  to  millions  at 
home,  who  attend  them  daily  with  their  solicitudes 
and  their  prayers.  The  well-being  of  these  soldiers 
lies,  a  cherished  burden,  upon  the  great  heart  of  the 

2 


18 


nation,  and  no  nation  can  carry  sncli  a  charge  without 
having  its  life  elevated  and  spiritualized. 

In  this  view,  it  is  perhaps  to  be  regarded  rather  as 
a  mercy  than  a  calamity,  that  our  government  was  so 
wholly  unprepared  for  the  war.  Had  it  been  foreseen, 
a  thousand  arrangements  would  have  been  made,  and 
a  thousand  agencies  intrusted  to  officials  of  the  go- 
vernment, which  have  now  of  necessity  been  left  to 
private  benevolence.  There  seems  a  congruity  in  the 
means  to  the  end, — a  volunteer  army  and  navy  cared 
for  by  a  spontaneous  and  munificent  kindness  on  the 
part  of  the  people !  Even  if  it  were  possible  for  our 
brave  troops  to  dispense  with  this  ministration,  it 
would  still  be  fraught  with  blessing  to  the  people. 
For  who  shall  estimate  the  moral  value  of  those  labors 
which  are  going  forward  in  every  quarter  for  the  relief 
of  our  volunteers'?  I  speak  to  a  jury  well  qualified  to 
pass  upon  this  issue,  for  we  happen  to  stand  upon  a 
spot  where  this  beneficent  spirit  has  wrought  with  an 
energy  and  a  liberality  not  surpassed  in  any  part  of  the 
Union.  The  members  of  that  Society,*  which  has 
held  its  meetings  in  the  lecture-room  of  this  Church 
almost  from  the  very  day  the  war  commenced,  can  bear 
witness  to  the  reflex  influence  of  their  exertions  upon 
themselves  and  their  families.  I  run  no  hazard  in 
saying  for  you  that  this  work  has  brought  a  double 
blessing  with  it, — a  blessing  as  well  for  yourselves  as 

*  "The  Ladies'  Aid  Society,"  organized  April  2(Jth,  18(51. 


19 


for  the  soldiers  who  have  been  the  recipients  of  your 
bounty.  Rarely  ha^•e  I  looked  in  upon  the  scene  of 
cheerful  industry  presented  at  your  meetings,  without 
the  reflection,  "  What  a  harvest  of  good  these  noble- 
minded  women  must  reap  from  the  seed  they  are 
sowing  here  !"  And  the  same  seeding  has  been  going 
on  all  over  the  land.  In  families,  in  churches,  in 
schools,  in  hamlets  and  villages,  the  generous  affec- 
tions of  the  heart  have  found  full  play  in  providing 
comforts,  both  for  the  sick  and  well,  in  our  camps  and 
hospitals.  The  women  of  the  country  have  given  not 
only  their  time  and  toil  to  this  work,  but  immense 
sums  of  money  also,  which  might,  at  an  ordinary 
season,  have  been  laid  out  in  dress,  and  equipage, 
and  amusements.  It  has  impressed  upon  society, 
even  in  our  large  cities,  a  new  type ;  replaced  its 
frivolities  with  rational  occupation ;  turned  many  a 
fashionable  trifler  into  a  useful  woman ;  and  set  before 
the  young  an  example  of  patriotism  and  philanthropy, 
and  a  just  appreciation  of  the  true  ends  of  life,  which 
must  tell  with  salutary  effect  upon  their  future  charac- 
ters. All  this  is  the  fruit  of  the  great  trial  which  is 
upon  us.  It  is  present  and  palpable  fruit,  independent 
quite  of  that  immortal  reward  which  is  bound  up  in 
those  wonderful  words,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  Me."  God  be  praised,  that  even  if  the 
war  is  destined  to  open  the  sluices  of  vice  upon  the 


20 


country,  it  is  at  the  same  time  invigorating  the  virtue 
of  the  people,  and  garnishing  the  land  with  those 
flowers  of  Paradise  which  never  die. 

It  were  inexcusable  not  to  mention  the  favoricldcli  a 
heni(jn  Providence  has  slioicn  our  cause,  as  one  of  our 
grounds  of  thankfulness  to-day. 

It  is  true  we  have  had  painful  reverses.  Most  of 
these,  however,  it  must  be  confessed,  have  been  attribu- 
table to  incompetency  or  rashness  on  the  part  of  officers. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  sum  of  our  reverses  is  very  small 
when  compared  with  the  fruits  of  that  wise  and  effi- 
cient policy  which  has  secured  three  wavering  States 
to  the  Union,  and  with  the  success  which  has  crowned 
our  arms  in  numerous  instances.  But  even  these  are 
not  the  chief  tokens  of  the  Divine  goodness  towards  us. 
What  primarily  demands  our  gratitude  is  the  loyalty 
and  patriotism  of  the  nation  upon  which  we  have  just 
been  dilating,  and  which  have  created  this  vast  army 
and  navy  and  the  means  to  sustain  them..  Our  work 
thus  far  has  all  been  preliminary — a  work  of  prepara- 
tion. And  I  do  not  know  that  God  ever  put  it  within 
the  power  of  a  threatened  nation  before  to  accomplish 
such  results  in  so  short  a  time.  "With  this  we  must  as- 
sociate two  other  blessings  equally  signal,  viz.,  the  ex- 
emption of  the  country,  and  especially  of  the  camps, 
from  wasting  epidemics,  and  our  almost  unexampled 
harvests.  There  is  something  so  marked  in  our  abun- 
dant crops  the  present  season  as  contrasted  with  the 


21 


short  crops  of  England  and  France  ;  it  bears  in  so 
many  ways,  financial,  social,  and  military,  upon  the 
issues  of  this  war ;  that  one  is  compelled  to  believe  there 
is  a  special  Providence  in  it.  Let  it  make  us  thankful 
and  humble. 

There  is  but  one  other  topic  with  which  I  shall  de- 
tain you.  We  have  the  best  reasons  for  believing  that 
this  contest  will  result  in  re-estahUsliing  the  Union  and 
j)erpetuatin(j  our  Government;  and  for  this  priceless 
blessing,  though  yet  in  perspective,  we  may  fitly  offer 
our  thanksgivings  to-day. 

It  were  superfluous  to  specify  the  grounds  upon  which 
the  conviction  here  expressed  rests.  The  subject  is 
open  to  every  one's  investigation ;  those  who  do  not 
share  in  the  conviction  that  the  Union  is  to  be  preserved, 
are  of  course  free  to  entertain  a  different  opinion.  That 
there  are  prospective  difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  re-union 
which  now  seem  intractable,  may  be  admitted.  The 
two  which  overshadow  all  others  are  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, and  the  bitter  resentments  engendered  by  the  war. 
We  have  no  warrant  to  regard  either  of  these  as  invin- 
cible. Other  nations  have  survived  ci^il  wars  without 
mutilation  or  permanent  estrangement :  and  so  may  we. 
What  is  to  become  of  the  four  millions  of  slaves  at  the 
South,  is  a  question  not  now  before  us.  Whether  the 
Institution  is  to  be  perpetuated ;  and  if  so,  whether  with 
any  abridgment  of  its  territorial  area,  or  any  material 
change  in  its  essential   conditions,   are  points   which 


22 


need  not  be  anticipated.  The  whole  problem  is  likely 
to  come  up  quite  soon  enough.  And  whenever  it  does 
come,  it  will  tax  the  collected  wisdom,  patriotism,  and 
Christianity  of  the  country  to  resolve  it.  Let  us  hope 
that  in  that  day,  the  subject  may  be  considered  without 
the  ignorance,  the  uncharitableness,  and  the  mutual 
hate,  which  have  too  often  envenomed  the  discussions 
of  the  question  in  the  years  that  are  past.*  It  will  be 
a  great  and  beneficent  effect. of  the  war,  if  it  shall  teach 
all  parties  of  all  sections,  that  this  profound  and  com- 
plicated- evil  is  never  to  be  approached  except  in  that 
spirit  of  candor  and  forbearance  with  which  it  was  uni- 
formly treated  by  the  Saviour  and  his  Apostles. 

"  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof."  We 
leave  to  the  future  what  properly  belongs  to  the  future, 
resting  only  in  the  firm  assurance  that  a  gracious  Pro- 
vidence will  preserve  and  perpetuate  this  Union.  Why 
we  should  manifest  so  much  solicitude  on  this  point, 
seems  to  be  a  marvel  to  the  European  mind.  One  of 
the  leading  London  journals  in  describing  the  war, 
lately  observed,  "  One  party  (the  South)  is  fighting  for 
independence  ;  the  other  for  an  idea.  One  strikes  for 
liberty;  the  other  for  the  Uuion."     To  their  minds, — 

*  Whatevei'  may  be  the  criminality  of  the  South,  it  cannot  change  the  facts 
of  history.  The  record  shows  that  the  North  is  very  far  from  being  guiltless 
in  this  matter.  Let  us  neither  cancel  nor  suppress  our  Protest  against  those 
aggressions  which  Pennsylvania,  at  least,  has  for  the  last  twenty  years  de- 
nounced as  fatal  to  all  harmony  between  the  North  and  the  South,  and  in 
fact  subversive  of  the  Union. 


23 


and  this  writer  represents  the  intelKgence  and  rank  of 
England, — our  Uniox  has  no  significance  !  It  is  a  mere 
abstraction,  an  "  /(Zt(/,"  which  it  is  both  wicked  and 
absurd  to  go  to  war  about.  If  Scotland  should  propose 
to  resume  her  ancient  sovereignty,  and  set  up  her  own 
throne  and  Parliament,  these  philosophers  would  be 
likely  to  think  that  "  Union"  might  represent  some- 
thing more  than  a  shadow.  Even  Ireland,  though  sepa- 
rated from  England  by  a  broad  arm  of  the  sea,  cannot 
lift  a  finger  to  sever  the  political  bond  which  unites 
them,  so  far  as  to  restore  her  ancient  Parliament,  with- 
out being  threatened  with  the  whole  army  and  navy  of 
Great  Britain.  "  Union,"  it  seems,  means  something 
on  that  side  of  the  water ;  on  this,  it  is  a  mere  bara- 
telle. 

One  does  not  care  to  argue  with  such  conceited  igno- 
rance as  this.  We  aU  understand  here,  that  it  were 
just  as  reasonable  to  ask  Great  Britain  to  consent  to 
divide  herself  into  two  kingdoms  at  the  Tweed,  or 
France  at  the  Loire,  as  to  expect  our  government  to 
acquiesce  in  any  partition  of  the  States  by  a  line  of  lati- 
tude. Providence  has  marked  out  this  country  as  the 
heritage  of  one  nation.  Its  chains  of  mountains  and 
its  network  of  lakes  and  rivers  demand  this.  A  glance 
at  the  map  will  show  that  there  cannot  be  one  nation 
at  the  sources  and  along  the  affluents  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Susquehanna,  and  another  at  their  mouths  ;  one 
nation  commanding  a  third  of  the  coast  line  from  jNIaine 


24 


to  Texas,  and  another  nation  the  other  two-thirds.  We 
are  made  one  nation,  too,  by  our  descent,  our  language, 
our  history,  our  traditions,  our  diversified  cHmate  and 
productions,  our  mutual  dependence  and  our  reciprocal 
interests.  Our  capacity  for  self-development  and  self- 
protection,  our  just  position  among  the  nations,  our  char- 
ters, our  schools,  our  religion,  all  require  that  we  shall 
be  one  nation.  The  dismemberment  which  is  now  at- 
tempted, would  not  simply  arrest  our  progress,  despoil 
us  of  our  national  prestige,  and  impair,  if  not  annul, 
our  power  for  good  throughout  the  globe  ;  it  would  en- 
tail perpetual  war  and  bloodshed  upon  our  posterity. 
For  what  power  short  of  Omnipotence  could  prevent 
this,  with  two  rival  confederacies  inflamed  with  heredi- 
tary animosities,  having  an  imaginary  line  of  several 
hundred  miles  in  length  as  a  conterminous  boundary, 
and  one  of  them  (as  would  certainly  be  the  case)  allied 
by  a  league,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  some  leading 
European  monarchy  1 

It  is  this  consideration  which,  beyond  any  other, 
reconciles  many  of  the  wisest  and  best  of  our  country- 
men to  the  war.  Appalling  as  it  is,  they  are  convinced 
that  it  is  the  only  alternative  to  something  far  worse — 
a  long  succession  of  fierce  and  bloody  wars  among 
those  who  are  to  come  after  us.  They  feel,  as  patriots 
and  as  Christians,  that  it  would  be  a  crime  of  the 
deepest  dye  to  transmit  such  a  legacy  to  posterity ;  and 
sooner  than  consent  to  it,  they  will  make  any  sacrifices, 


25 


submit  to  any  hardships,  and  face  any  dangers.  The 
first  duty  we  owe,  under  God,  to  our  country,  to  the 
world,  and  to  future  generations,  is  to  retrieve  and  per- 
petuate our  nationaUty.  I  say,  "  to  our  country,"  and 
I  mean  by  this  our  wliole  country.  The  solemn  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  the  loyal  States  to  re-establish 
the  Union  in  its  integrity,  at  whatever  cost,  is  not  to 
be  interpreted  as  the  offspring  of  a  vindictive  feeling 
towards  the  South.  It  has  never  been  the  sentiment  of 
the  loyal  States,  that  the  Southern  people  had  initiated 
tliis  war  upon  the  Union.  They  regard  them — even 
now  when  they  have,  in  such  masses,  taken  up  arms 
against  us — as  having  been  deceived  by  unprincipled 
leaders,  whose  authority  is  already  waning  just  because 
their  arts  are  beginning  to  be  understood.  Truth  is  no 
match  for  falsehood  on  a  short  course;  but  with  the 
world  before  them,  truth  is  sure  to  reach  the  goal  first. 
Time  and  patience  are  already  opening  the  eyes  of 
those  deluded  midtitudes  to  the  real  condition  of  things. 
And  when  the  frenzy  to  which  they  have  been  wrought 
up  has  passed  by,  it  will  not  be  strange  if  they  become 
their  own  avengers,  and  visit  their  betrayers  with  sum- 
mary justice. 

These,  if  I  mistake  not,  are  the  prevailing  sentiments 
of  the  loyal  population.  And  when  they  insist  upon  a 
restoration  of  the  Union,  it  is  from  an  honest  concern 
for  the  well-being,  not  of  themselves  only,  but  of  the 
people  of  the  seceded  States  as  well.     They  are  per- 

3 


26 


suadecl  that  it  is  the  only  means  by  which  those  popu- 
lations can  again  enjoy  the  benefits  of  a  wise  and  good 
government. 

It  is  a  satisfaction  to  reflect  that  in  the  issue  here 
contemplated,  the  Union  will  probably  be  handed  over 
to  our  successors  stronger  than  when  it  came  into  our 
hands.  The  Constitution  will  be  better  understood. 
Warned  by  the  past,  the  people  may  guard  the  ark  of 
their  liberties  with  increased  vigilance.  The  educated 
and  wealthy  classes,  whose  criminal  neglect  of  their 
political  obligations  makes  them  largely  responsible  for 
the  calamities  which  oppress  us,  may  peradventure  feel 
that  a  government  like  ours  is  worth  some  little  time 
and  care  at  their  hands.  Whatever  contests  may  arise, 
whatever  political  heresies  may  spring  up,  there  will  at 
least  be  nothing  to  fear  from  the  noxious  dogma  which 
has  produced  this  colossal  insurrection.  Secession  will 
be  dead.     And  so  far,  the  Union  will  be  secure. 

Let  the  lesson  be  drawn  here  (as  in  a  parenthesis),  that 
neither  in  politics  nor  in  morals  are  errors  of  opinion  to 
be  allowed  to  pass  with  impunity.  There  is  nothing  of 
which  men  in  general  are  so  intolerant,  as  any  rigor  on 
the  part  of  religious  teachers  in  dealing  with  unscriptu- 
ral  doctrines.  Immoral  conduct  they  will  not  defend. 
"  But  why  censure  a  man  for  a  mere  speculative  error]" 
Because  a  speculative  error  may  be  charged  with  the 
elements  of  death,  a  thousand-fold  beyond  the  mischief 
bound  up  in  a  vicious  life.     You  must  take  this  asser- 


27 


tion  on  trust  so  fur  as  theology  is  concerned.  But  in 
politics,  the  demonstration  is  before  you.  This  war 
which  is  desolating  the  most  prosperous  country  in  the 
world,  is  the  product  of  an  erroneous  political  opinion. 
That  opinion  was  drifting  about  for  many  years  among 
the  eddies  of  our  politics,  occasionally  eliciting  some 
discussion,  but  treated  in  tlie  main  as  a  harmless  ab- 
surdity. Yet  it  carried  in  its  bosom  a  very  magazine 
of  destruction,  which  needed  only  the  fatal  spark  ta 
cover  the  land  with  these  mighty  ruins.  Let  the  lesson 
be  heeded.  Error  is  not  harmless.  The  charity  which 
leads  you  to  shelter  it  when  propounded  by  a  popular 
lecturer  or  a  popular  preacher,  and  which  makes  you 
stigmatize  those  who  denounce  it  as  bigots,  is  a  charity 
which  has  stolen  the  livery  of  Heaven  to  serve  the 
devil  in.  He  who  is  Truth  itself,  and  whose  bound- 
less goodness  has  irradiated  our  world  with  the  light  of 
hope  and  of  heaven,  has  suspended  salvation  and  perdi- 
tion upon  men's  belief.  ^'■Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  "  He  that  helleveth 
not  shall  be  damned."  Let  us  have  no  more  of  that 
spurious  charity  which  is  ever  ready  to  homologate 
truth  and  error, — when  they  lead,  in  politics,  one  to 
law  and  order,  the  other  to  anarchy  and  bloodshed ; 
and  in  morals,  one  to  an  eternity  of  glory,  the  other  to 
an  eternity  of  shame. 

But  it  is  time  to  release  your  attention.     Unless  we 


28 


have  gone  over  our  subject  in  vain,  you  will  feel  mth 
me  that  we  have  ample  cause  to  keep  this  festival,  not- 
withstanding the  sorrow  which  has  gone  up  into  so 
many  homes,  and  the  ensigns  of  war  which  wave  from 
every  hill  and  turret.  You  will  bring  your  thanks- 
givings to  God  to-day,  that  we  still  have  a  country ; 
that  the  ancient  patriotism  still  glows  upon  our  altars  ; 
that  Christianity  has  girded  herself  with  new  strength 
for  this  day  of  trial ;  and  that  our  cherished  Union 
promises,  by  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  to  emerge  from 
this  conflict,  purified  by  the  fires,  more  firmly  estab- 
lished upon  its  foundations,  penetrated  with  a  more 
humble  and  grateful  temper,  and  better  fitted  than  ever 
to  help  forward  the  cause  of  liberty,  humanity,  and 
true  religion  throughout  the  earth. 


THE  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  GOD,  THE   SURE  AND   ONLY   STAY  OF 

THE  CHRISTIAN  PATRIOT  IN   OUR 
NATIONAL  TROUBLES. 


A    SEEMON 


PREACHED    IN   THE 

TENTH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA,  SEPT.  U, 


AND   IX   THE 


WEST  SPRUCE  STREET  CHURCH,  SEPTEMBER  28,  1862. 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

WILLIAM  S.  &  ALFRED  MARTIEN. 
1862. 


Philadeiphia,  September  30,  1S62. 
Rev.  Hesbt  A.  Boardman,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir — Your  Sermon  on  the  Reign  of  God,  as  connected  with  our  present  troubles, 
deserves  a  much  larger  publicity  than  can  result  from  twice  preaching.  It  ought  to  be 
read  and  considered,  as  well  by  those  who  love  God  and  their  country,  as  by  those  who 
are  too  apt  to  forget  him.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  vain  hope  to  escape  from  our  entanfrlc- 
ments,  and  to  exhibit  "  the  uprising  of  a  great  nation,"  until  we  sincerely  and  humbly 
adopt  the  motto,  "  In  God  is  our  trust." 
We  therefore  request  that  the  manuscript  may  be  placed  at  our  disposal  for  publication. 

JAMES  POLLOCK, 
JOSEPH  PATTERSON, 
GEORGE  U.  STUART, 
S.  A.  MERCER, 
ARCHIBALD  McIXTYRE, 
ARTHUR  G.  COFFIX, 
SAMUEL  ASBURY, 
HEXRY  D.  SHERRERD, 
JAMES  WARRIN, 
W.  DWIQHT  BELL. 


Philadelphia,  October  2,  1S62. 
Gentlemen — It  would  be  superfluous  to  speak  to  you  of  the  tone  of  despondency  which 
has  for  the  last  six  months  pervaded  the  public  mind  respecting  the  war.  The  sermon 
which  you  desire  to  publish  had  its  origin  in  the  prevalence  of  this  feeling — then,  I  may 
add,  at  its  height.  Our  army  had  just  been  expelled  from  Central  Tirginia;  the  national 
forces  in  the  South-west  were  resigning  their  dearly  bought  conquests;  and  the  Northern 
States  were  threatened  with  invasion.  On  every  side  we  encountered  inquietude,  distrust, 
and  vague  presentiments  of  fresh  calamity.  Every  one  felt  the  need  of  some  sure  resting- 
place.  I  felt  it  myself;  and  wrote  the  sermon  for  my  own  relief,  and  the  comfort  of  my 
people.  I  had  no  thought  of  its  going  further.  Your  kind  note  assures  me  that  it  has 
been  helpful  to  you,  and  may  be  to  others.  I  shall  rejoice  if  it  prove  so.  For  notwith- 
standing the  recent  victories  with  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  crown  our  arms,  the 
cloud  is  not  lifted  from  the  public  mind.  The  future  lowers  very  darkly  upon  us;  and 
there  is  neither  peace  nor  hope  for  us  except  in  the  reflection,  "  The  Lord  eeigseth.  " 
I  cheerfully  place  the  manuscript  in  your  hands. 

Respectfully  and  faithfully  yours, 

HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN. 
To  the  Hon.  Jamxs  Pollock, 

Joseph  Patterson,  Esq.,  and  others. 


SEEM  ON. 


Psalm  xcvii.  1,  2. 

THE  LORD  REIGNETH:  LET  THE  EARTH  REJOICE;  LET  THE  MULTITUDE  OP 
ISLES  BE  GLAD  THEREOF.  CLOUDS  AND  DARKNESS  ARE  ROUND  ABOUT 
him:    RIGHTEOUSNESS    AND   JUDGMENT   ARE    THE    HABITATION    OP    HIS    THRONE. 

We  have  here  one  of  the  favourite  themes  of  the 
sacred  writers,  the  universal  dominion  of  God.  It 
is  a  subject  they  present  to  us  in  every  form, 
whether  of  simple  didactic  statement,  history,  song, 
or  prophecy.  This  need  not  surprise  us.  A 
devout  spirit  must  dwell  with  habitual  and  grateful 
joy  upon  the  reign  of  God.  It  belongs  to  the 
earliest  aspirations  of  the  new-born  soul  on  earth; 
and  it  inspires  the  loftiest  anthems  of  saints  and 
angels  in  glory.  If  I  add,  that  it  is  of  all  others 
the  subject  which  must  come  home  to  our  bosoms 
just  now,  you  will  every  one  respond  to  the  senti- 
ment. For  there  is  nothing  of  which  we  need  more 
to  be  reminded  in  our  present  circumstances,  than 
that  "  THE  LoKD  KEiGNETH ;"  that  cveu  when  "  clouds 


6  THE   LORD   REIGNETH. 

and  darkness  are  round  about  him,"  and  his  dispen- 
sations are  veiled  in  mystery,  "righteousness  and 
judgment  are  the  habitation  of  his  throne;"  and 
that  his  reign  is,  therefore,  a  just  cause  of  joy  to  all 
the  earth. 

One  of  the  expressions  used  by  the  Psalmist  on 
this  latter  point  requires  a  word  of  explanation; — 
"Let  the  earth  rejoice;  let  the  multitude  of  isles  be 
glad  thereof"  The  words  "  isles"  and  "  islands," 
which  are  of  such  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Old 
Testament,  do  not  ordinarily  denote  a  tract  of  land 
surrounded  by  water.  That  is  sometimes  the  mean- 
ing, but  the  Hebrews  used  the  term  so  translated,  to 
denote  sea-coasts  in  general — any  shores  washed  by 
the  sea;  and  so,  maritime  countries.  In  several 
passages,  the  special  reference  is  to  the  coasts  bor- 
dering on  the  Mediterranean;  while  in  others,  it  is 
to  be  taken  without  this  limitation,  and  as  equiva- 
lent to  "  the  Gentile  nations."  Of  this  we  have  an 
early  example  in  Gen.  x.  5:  "By  these  were  the 
isles  of  the  Gentiles  divided  in  their  lands;  every 
one  after  his  tongue,  after  their  families,  in  their 
nations."  And  in  the  same  way  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  text:  "Let  the  multitude  of  isles — let  the 
Gentiles  of  all  lands — be  glad  thereof;  let  all  kin- 
dreds and  nations  rejoice  that  the  Lord  reigneth." 

"  The   Lord   reigneth."      We   have    this   truth 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  7 

often  repeated.  "  The  Lord  is  King  for  ever  and 
ever."  "  For  the  Lord  most  high  is  terrible ;  he  is 
a  great  King  over  all  the  earth."  "  Who  is  like 
unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  gods]  Who  is  like 
thee,  glorious  in  holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  doing 
wonders'?"  "Our  God  is  in  the  heavens:  he  hath 
done  whatsoever  he  hath  pleased."  "  Thine,  O 
Lord,  is  the  greatness,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory, 
and  the  victory,  and  the  majesty;  for  all  that  is  in 
the  heaven  and  in  the  earth  is  thine:  thine  is  the 
kingdom,  O  Lord,  and  thou  art  exalted  above  all." 
Testimonies  like  these — and  the  Bible  is  full  of 
them — can  import  nothing  less  than  that  the  Deity 
exercises  an  absolute  control  over  all  creatures  and 
all  events.  He  governs  the  worlds,  material  and 
immaterial.  He  governs  brutes,  and  he  governs 
men.  He  governs  individuals,  and  he  governs 
nations.  He  governs  angels,  and  he  governs  devils. 
His  supremacy  extends  to  every  mote  that  floats  in 
the  sunbeam,  to  every  tiny  globule  that  sparkles  in 
the  foam  of  the  sea,  to  every  transient  emotion  that 
flits  across  the  breast  of  man  or  angel.  Nothing 
exists  but  by  his  ordination.  Nothing  happens  but 
as  he  bids  or  permits  it  to  happen.  The  same  hand 
which  upholds  the  universe  and  keeps  the  stars  in 
their  courses,  guides  the  falling  sparrow. 

It  must  be  so.     An  infinite  and  perfect  .God  must 


8  THE   LORD   EEIGNETH. 

exercise  an  absolute  and  universal  dominion.  He 
must  be  present  in  every  part  of  the  universe.  He 
must  know  everything  that  occurs.  He  must  direct 
and  control  all  things.  Otherwise  his  own  plans 
would  be  liable  to  interruption,  and  his  happiness 
would  be  marred.  That  he  has  a  plan,  is  a  neces- 
sary sequence  from  his  perfection.  His  wisdom 
will  select  the  means  for  carrying  it  into  effect ;  and 
his  goodness  and  righteousness  make  it  certain  that 
these  means,  and  the  plan  itself,  will  be  adapted  to 
promote  alike  his  own  glory  and  the  welfare  of  his 
creatures. 

His  sovereignty,  I  have  said,  extends  as  well  to 
nations  as  to  individuals.  The  one  includes  the 
other.  If  he  governs  individuals  he  must  govern 
nations,  and  vice  versa.  What  is  the  Old  Testament 
history  but  an  illustration  of  this  idea"?  Going  back 
to  the  flood,  the  earth  is  divided  among  the  sons  of 
Noah.  The  nations  springing  from  their  loins  are 
assigned  each  its  proper  territory.  After  four  cen- 
turies, Abraham  is  called,  and  then,  for  two  thou- 
sand years,  a  single  nation  fills  the  field  of  vision: 
all  other  nations  are  treated  as  if  of  no  moment, 
except  in  their  relations  to  the  chosen  people. 
Now  they  are  made  the  tributaries  of  the  Hebrews ; 
and  anon  they  are  used  to  scourge  them.  To-day 
they  fight  them;    to-morrow  they  hew  their  wood 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  9 

and  draw  their  water.  But  when  their  work  is 
done  relatively  to  the  Jew,  they  disappear  from  the 
scene,  and  are  heard  of  no  more. 

Even  the  great  empires  of  the  globe  pay  the  same 
homage,  involuntary  though  it  be,  to  the  Divine 
supremacy.  It  is  a  reflection  of  pregnant  import, 
that  the  same  irresistible  will  which  ruled  over 
Edom  and  Moab,  controlled  Babylon,  and  Media, 
and  Greece,  and  Rome.  As  if  to  shut  the  mouths 
of  those  who  might  be  disposed  to  exclude  his  pro- 
vidence from  the  wonderful  events  which  marked 
the  history  of  the  four  great  monarchies,  their 
annals  are  written  in  advance  by  the  pen  of  pro- 
phecy. God  tells  the  world  what  he  was  going  to 
do  with  these  mighty  empires;  that  when  the  pre- 
dictions were  fulfilled,  they  might  own  his  hand 
in  the  consummation,  and  confess  that  "  the  Lord 
God  omnipotent  reigneth." 

The  argument  from  this  source  is  irrefragable. 
The  Book  of  Daniel,  read  in  connection  with  authen- 
tic uninspired  history,  supplies  a  complete  moral 
demonstration  of  God's  control  over  nations  and  of 
his  agency  in  all,  even  their  minutest  afi'airs.  For  it 
must  be  apparent,  that  if  his  prescribed  plan  had 
happened  to  omit  the  career  of  a  single  individufil 
belonging,  if  you  will,  to  the  Medo-Persian  empire, 
or  the  most  trivial  measure  in  its  public  policy,  that 


10  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

oversight  might  have  changed  the  whole  current  of 
its  affairs,  and  so  caused  the  prophecy  to  miscarry. 
When  it  is  considered  what  the  rise,  progress,  and 
overthrow  of  a  nation  involves — what  an  endless 
variety  and  complexity  of  interests,  plans,  and  pas- 
sions; what  diversified  pursuits,  institutions,  and 
organizations,  social,  commercial,  literary,  political, 
and  religious;  amplified  by  its  relations  with  other 
nations,  and,  still  more,  by  having  each  individual  of 
the  millions  who  compose  its  successive  generations 
left  to  his  own  free  will, — when  we  take  this  view 
of  a  nation,  we  cannot  but  stand  amazed  at  the 
prescience  which  can  forecast  its  destiny,  and  the 
infinite  intelligence  and  power  which  can  shape  its 
fortunes  precisely  to  the  appointed  end.  This  is  what 
we  know  the  Deity  has  done  in  respect  to  the  nations 
embraced  in  the  fulfilled  prophecies;  and  we  are 
equally  sure  that  he  does  it  in  respect  to  every 
nation.  The  supervision  he  exercises  over  its  affairs 
is  not  remote  and  general;  but  practical  and  con- 
stant. It  pervades  the  entire  structure.  It  touches 
its  every  interest.  It  guides  its  every  movement.  He 
holds  it  as  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand;  and  without 
him  it  cannot  lift  a  finger;  it  cannot  even  breathe. 

This — nothing  less  than  this — is  meant  by  the 
Scripture  doctrine  that  "the  Lord  reigneth."  And 
if  this  be  its  meaning,  we  are  prepared  to  hear  that 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  11 

"clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  him;"  in  other 
words,  that  many  of  his  dispensations  are  veiled  in 
mystery.  No  one  who  accepts  the  doctrine  with  an 
intelligent  faith,  could  expect  anything  else.  For 
consider, 

The  infinitude  of  God.  "Canst  thou  by  searching 
find  out  God '?"  The  loftiest  angel  could  not  do  this. 
The  loftiest  angel  is  but  a  child  in  knowledge  here. 
What  can  we  do,  then,  in  comprehending  the  ways 
of  the  infinite  One? 

Consider,  again,  the  extent  and  grandeur  of  his 
domain.  "VVe  are  no  more  to  sever  our  globe  from 
the  rest  of  the  universe,  than  we  are  to  isolate  one 
province  or  nation  of  the  globe  from  the  residue. 
His  government  is  one.  It  comprises  the  various 
kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  it  comprises,  no  less,  the 
remainder  of  our  planetary  system,  and  all  the  stars 
and  systems  which  adorn  the  skies,  and  every  sphere 
that  revolves  in  those  distant  fields  of  space  which 
no  telescope  has  ever  brought  within  the  reach  of 
mortal  vision.  It  is  one  realm,  under  "one  blessed 
and  only  Potentate."  He  created  it  for  a  common 
end.  He  governs  it  according  to  a  single  plan  which 
comprehends  all  its  mighty  interests,  and  makes  its 
every  grand  and  every  trivial  agency  subservient  to 
his  ultimate  design. 

To  say  this  is  to  affirm  that  he  must  at  times  be 


12  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

robed  "in  clouds  and  darkness."  It  were  arrosratinsr 
a  divine  prerogative  to  suppose  ourselves  capable  of 
grasping  all  the  movements  of  a  government  like 
this.  The  event  which  confounds  your  wisdom  and 
tries  your  faith,  has  relations  you  do  not  understand. 
You  do  not  see  all  its  bearings  even  upon  our  own 
national  welfare.  How  can  you  trace  its  effects  upon 
the  other  portions  of  the  human  family — upon  Europe 
— upon  China — upon  Africa "?  And  if  you  could 
unravel  this  net-work,  what  could  you  know  of  its 
possible  results  in  some  of  these  distant  orbs  which 
pay  allegiance  to  the  same  august  Sovereign,  and 
constitute  a  part  of  the  same  empire,  with  ourselves? 

This  argument  is  enforced  by  the  reflection,  that 
the  present  is  confessedly  a  preliminari/  dispensatioiu 
"Lo,  these  are  imrts  of  his  ways."  Everything  we 
see,  is  in  order  to  something  we  do  not  see.  The 
present  is  for  the  future.  Inscrutable  providences 
are  like  Scripture  prophecies — their  interpretation  is 
to  come.  We  are  under  a  Teacher  too  wise  to  give 
us  the  problem  and  the  key  together.  When  his 
plan  is  completed,  we  shall  see  and  confess  its  won- 
drous symmetry  and  beauty. 

That  we  should  encounter  these  mysteries  is  fur- 
ther to  be  contemplated  as  a  necessary  part  of  our 
moral  training.  We  are  sufficiently  prone  to  indulge 
pride,  and  self-will,  and  impatience,  and  selfishness. 


THE    LORD    REIGXETH.  13 

It  woidcl  not  abate  these  e^il  tendencies  if  every- 
thing in  God's  providence  were  made  plain  to  us. 
"We  need  dark  and  inexplicable  events,  to  remind  us 
that  we  are  are  in  the  presence  of  a  Power  greater 
than  ourselves :  to  mortify  our  self-consequence :  to 
foster  in  our  breasts  patience  and  submission:  and 
to  nourish  a  filial  trust  in  God's  wisdom  and  right- 
eousness, even  when  "his  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  his 
path  in  the  great  waters." 

1  have  treated  the  text  chiefly  in  its  bearing  upon 
nations; — God's  dominion  over  nations:  for  it  is  this 
question  which  most  deeply  concerns  us  at  this 
juncture.  It  has  been  shown  that  his  government 
extends  to  nations;  and  that  in  his  dispensations 
towards  them  we  must  expect  inscrutable  pro'S'idences. 
A  cursory  review  of  any  period  of  the  world's  his- 
tory would  supply  illustrations  of  these  topics.  He 
has  not  governed  the  nations  as  we  would  have 
governed  them.  There  are  events  in  the  history 
even  of  the  chosen  people  which  amaze  us — which 
would  certainly  have  amazed  us  had  we  been  living 
when  they  occurred.  Of  these  none  is  more  remark- 
able than  the  early  disruption  of  the  nation.  After 
the  unexampled  care  and  culture  he  had  bestowed 
upon  them — the  wonders  which  marked  their  exodus 
from  Egypt,  their  miraculous  support  in  the  desert, 
their  victories  over  the  heathen,  and  their  successful 


14  THE   LORD    REIGNETH. 

occupation  of  Canaan;  after  the  temple  was  built, 
and  their  complex  and  imposing  system  of  worship 
established,  and  the  new  epoch  in  their  subhme 
career  inaugurated  by  the  brilliant  reigns  of  David 
and  Solomon — the  natural  presumption  must  have 
been  that  the  nation  would  at  least  be  preserved  in 
its  integrity  for  centuries.  Instead  of  this,  Solomon 
is  scarcely  laid  in  his  tomb,  before  a  rebellion  takes 
place  in  which  ten  tribes  combine  to  throw  off  the 
theocratic  yoke,  and  thenceforward  the  kingdom  is 
divided.  Even  to  this  day  the  breach  has  never  been 
healed;  and  History,  vigilant  as  it  is,  has  failed  to 
preserve  any  record  of  ten-twelfths  of  the  ancient 
seed  of  Abraham.  Is  it  possible  to  recall  this  pas- 
sage without  feeling  that  "clouds  and  darkness  are 
round  about  him"  1 

So,  at  a  later  period,  with  the  seventy  years  cap- 
tivity. No  one  will  impugn  the  righteousness  of 
this  visitation,  for  their  cup  of  iniquity  was  full. 
Still,  when  we  remember  his  previous  dealings  with 
them,  his  promises,  and  especially  the  promise  of  a 
Messiah,  and  the  overflowing  wickedness  of  the 
nations  at  war  with  them,  it  cannot  but  appear  mys- 
terious that  he  should  suffer  their  land  to  be  laid 
desolate,  the  temple  itself  destroyed,  and  the  people 
dragged  off  into  a  distant  and  cruel  bondage.     Had 


THE   LORD   REIGNETH.  15 

we  lived  then,  our  feeling  would  have  been,  "Clouds 
and  darkness  are  round  about  him." 

With  this  feeling,  indeed,  we  must  read  no  incon- 
siderable part  of  modern  as  well  as  ancient  history. 
The  course  of  events  has  not  been  in  the  line  which 
our  wisdom  and  our  sense  of  right  would  have  pre- 
scribed. God's  ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  his 
thoughts  as  our  thoughts;  or  the  earth  would  pre- 
sent a  very  different  spectacle  from  that  which 
meets  our  eyes  to-day.  While  we  feel  thus  in 
reference  to  various  other  countries,  our  own  trou- 
bles clothe  the  sentiment  with  a  peculiar  solemnity. 
This  cruel  war  confounds  us.  Its  first  gun  sent  a 
shudder  through  the  land.  We  could  scarcely  trust 
our  senses  that  a  civil  war  was  upon  us.  Com- 
pelled to  admit  this,  our  next  thought  was  that  it 
must  be  very  short;  that  with  our  vast  resources  we 
could  bring  it  to  a  speedy  end.  But  it  lasts  far 
beyond  our  calculations.  We  are  bafhed,  and  often 
defeated,  by  a  power  every  way  inferior  to  us. 
Twenty  millions  of  men  are  held  at  bay  for  eighteen 
months  by  six  millions.  We  talk  of  victories;  and 
our  own  capitals  tremble  at  the  tramp  of  invading 
armies.  Wise  men  stand  amazed  at  the  current  of 
events.  Every  one  asks  of  his  neighbour,  AVhat 
does  it  mean'?  Devout  Christians  are  saying,  "We 
had  not  thought  he  would  deal  thus  with  us." 


16  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

It  is  something  to  know — it  is  a  great  deal  to 
know — that  His  hand  is  in  it  all.  "  The  Lord 
REIGNETH."  This  is  really  our  only  sure  source  of 
consolation.  We  have  looked  to  earth,  and  it  has 
failed  us.  We  have  turned  to  our  rulers;  we  have 
thought  with  complacency  of  our  skilful  captains,  of 
our  well-appointed  armies,  and  our  invincible  fleets. 
We  have  felt  that  with  such  defences  the  govern- 
ment must  be  safe,  and  this  rebellion  be  promptly 
suppressed.  These  confidences  have  been  shattered. 
Fearful  and  anxious,  we  cast  around  for  some  other 
and  better  support.  And  here  we  find  it:  "The 
Lord  reigneth." 

"If  he  does  "reign" — reign  with  that  absolute 
and  ubiquitous  supremacy  which  has  been  ascribed 
to  him — then  this  war  has  not  come  without  him. 
He  is  in  all  our  triumphs,  and  not  less  in  all  our 
reverses.  The  very  causes  which  have  brought  us 
into  our  present  condition;  the  alleged  official 
incompetency  and  mismanagement,  the  ignorance, 
the  jealousies,  the  grievous  mistakes,  the  possible 
disloyalty — all  are  within  his  domain.  His  "  reign" 
comprehends  them  all;  for  "none  can  stay  his  hand, 
or  say  unto  him.  What  doest  thou'?"  Had  it 
seemed  good  to  him,  this  unnatural  war  would  have 
been  brouglit  to  an  end  within  two  or  three  months. 
That  it  is   still   prolonged,  shows    that  w^hile   the 


THE   LORD    REIGNETH.  17 

parties  to  it  are  aiming  at  their  ends,  God  has  his 
purposes  to  accomplish  also.  And  we  may  be  sure 
that  until  they  are  accomplished,  the  work  of  sor- 
row and  death  will  go  on. 

If  there  be  anything  sad  in  this  reflection,  there 
is  more  of  comfort.  It  is  in  fact,  as  already  hinted, 
the  only  real  comfort  that  is  left  us;  the  conviction 
that  we  are  in  his  hands,  and  that  he  will  order  all 
things  as  he  deems  best.  There  is  no  agency,  great 
or  small,  concerned  in  this  war,  which  he  does  not 
control.  He  is  in  the  council-chambers  of  our 
rulers.  He  is  with  our  hosts  in  the  field.  He  is 
with  the  armies  that  are  assailing  our  cherished 
Union,  and  threatening  to  devastate  our  towns  and 
cities.  All  are  in  as  entire  subjection  to  him,  as  are 
the  forces  which  carry  forward  the  tranquil  opera- 
tions of  the  natural  world.  Except  with  his  consent 
or  by  his  permission,  no  plan  can  prosper,  and  no 
blow  take  eff"ect,  whether  for  or  against  us. 

It  were,  indeed,  a  mockery  of  God  to  expect  him 
to  work  a  miracle  for  our  help;  we  can  only  count 
upon  his  aid  when  we  are  doing  all  we  can  our- 
selves. But  the  efficiency  is  his;  and  the  results 
are  his.  He  can  save  by  many  or  by  few.  Under 
his  shield  three  hundred  Hebrews  shall  vanquish 
the  tens  of  thousands  of  Midian.  And  this  feat 
may  be  renewed  on  other  fields;  while  without  his 
2 


18  THE    LORD    REIGNETH 

favour,  a  colossal  army  may  flee  before  an  imagi- 
nary danger.  He  who  says  to  the  turbulent  sea, 
"Thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  further,"  can  say 
the  same  to  an  invading  foe;  and  the  submission 
shall  be  as  prompt  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 
If  I  iterate  this  thought,  it  is  because  there  is  no 
truth  of  so  much  moment  to  us  at  this  crisis. 

The  review  we  have  taken,  shows  that  God  is 
dealing  with  us  as  he  has  dealt  with  other  nations; 
that  we  ought  to  expect  events  which  would  seem 
dark  and  inexplicable;  and  that  such  events  bring 
their  lessons  with  them — lessons  which  it  cannot  be 
safe  to  neglect. 

The  most  serious  aspect  of  these  late  reverses 
is  that  which  links  them  with  God's  sovereignty. 
Unless  we  have  failed  entirely  in  our  exposition  of 
the  text,  these  trials  betoken  another  controversy  to 
which  we  are  a  party,  in  comparison  with  which  the 
conflict  that  engrosses  us  is  of  secondary  importance; 
or  rather,  which  imparts  to  this  conflict  all  its  signi- 
ficance. I  refer  of  course  to  God's  controversy  with 
us.  If  he  were  reconciled  to  us,  this  war  would  not 
last  long.  "  When  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord, 
he  maketh  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with 
him."  The  sentiment  must  be  as  applicable  to 
nations  as  to  individuals.  What  could  any  earthly 
power  do  against  a  people  who  had  God  on  their 


THE   LORD    EEIGNETH.  19 

side]    What  did  they  effect  against  IsraeU    "When 
they  went  from   one    nation   to   another,  from   one 
kingdom  to  another  people,  he  snffered  no  man  to 
do  them  wrong:  yea,  he  reproved  kings  for  their 
sakes,  saying,  Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do  my 
prophets  no  harm."  Psalm  cv.  13 — 15.     It  must  be 
because  there  is  sin  lying  at  our  door;  because  we 
have  not  humbled  ourselves  aright  under  his  rebukes ; 
and  we  are  not  brought  back  in  love  and  loyalty  to 
Him,  that  his  hand  is  still  stretched  out  against  us. 
Absolute  as  is  his  supremacy,  and  inscrutable  as  he 
must  be  to  our  reason  in  many  of  his  dispensations, 
it   is    nevertheless   an   established   principle  of  his 
administration,  that  he  Avill  bless  any  nation  which 
faithfully  honours   him,   and  return  to   the   nation 
which   penitently  returns    to    him.     "The  Lord  is 
with  you  while  ye  are  with  him ;  and  if  ye  seek  him, 
he  will  be  found  of  you:  but  if  ye  forsake  him,  he 
will  forsake  you."     If  pagan   Nineveh   found   this 
true,  no  Christian  people  need  scruple  to  avail  them- 
selves of  it.     The  ten  tribes  would  doubtless  have 
experienced  his  clemency,  had  they  sought  it.     But 
among  all  their  kings,  there  was  not  a  single  good 
one.     There  was  no  repentance,  and  therefore  no 
restoration. 

But   some   one   may   ask,   Why   attribute    these 
reverses  to  the  Divine  displeasure,  when  they  are 


20  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

clearly  traceable  to  human  agency]  Why  not  charge 
them  to  the  imbecility,  and  the  ambition,  the 
personal  feuds,  and  political  intrigues  which  have 
brought  them  upon  us]  I  answer:  1.  It  is  not  the 
province  of  the  pulpit  to  discuss  such  topics  in  these 
relations.  2.  There  is  no  intention  to  exonerate  any 
one  who  may  have  had  a  criminal  agency  in  causing 
these  calamities.  Let  the  tribunals  arraign  and 
punish  them.  3.  But  if  you  could  point  out  with 
unerring  certainty  all  who  have  been  concerned  in 
precipitating  these  disastrous  events  upon  the  coun- 
try, it  would  no  more  exclude  a  Providence  than 
you  can  exclude  a  Providence  from  the  lightning 
and  the  earthquake.  God  works  by  agents  of  all 
kinds;  as  well  by  men's  vices  as  by  their  virtues;  as 
well  by  their  ignorance  and  their  ambition,  as  by 
their  patriotism  and  their  science.  And  we  cannot 
suppose  that  he  would  have  permitted  such  instru- 
ments to  produce  such  effects,  unless  it  were  a  part 
of  his  plan  to  use  them  in  reproving  the  sins  of  this 
nation. 

If  this  be  a  proper  view  of  the  subject,  our  duty  is 
plain.  We  must  ^^  search  and  try  our  ivai/s,  and  turn 
again  to  the  Lord."  The  loss  of  his  favour  will 
explain  everything  that  has  happened.  x\nd  the 
grand  aim  should  be  to  learn  how  we  have  lost  his 
favour,  and  by  what  means  we  can  regain  it.     This 


THE    LORD  REIGNETH.  21 

is  too  large  a  theme  to  be  discussed  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  few  pages.  But  there  is  one  feature  of  our 
government  too  closely  connected  with  this  question, 
and  too  conspicuous,  to  be  passed  by  in  silence.  I 
refer,  as  you  will  readily  suppose — for  the  topic  is  a 
familiar  one — to  the  absence  of  any  adequate  recog- 
nition of  the  sovereignty  of  God,  and  the  religion  of 
which  he  is  the  author  and  object,  in  our  Constitu- 
tion, and  in  the  practical  administration  of  our  poli- 
tical system.  It  may  be  conceded  that  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  is  to  a  certain  extent  incorporated  with 
our  institutions.  The  le^al  recognition  of  the  Sab- 
bath,  the  oath  on  the  Holy  Evangelists,  and  the 
appointment  of  Chaplains,  are,  so  far,  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  Christian  religion.  But  our  national 
charter  pays  no  homage  to  the  Deity.  His  name 
does  not  once  occur  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  And,  as  if  to  confound  the  charity 
which  would  refer  tliis  omission  to  some  accidental 
agency,  the  same  atheism  is  repeated  and  perpetuated 
in  another  form  no  less  excusable.  The  coinage  of 
money  is  one  of  the  inalienable  prerogatives  of  poli- 
tical sovereignty.  The  solemnity  attached  to  the 
function  has  been  recognised  by  most  nations, 
ancient  and  modern,  Jewish  and  Christian,  Moham- 
medan and  Pagan.  For  a  sort  of  universal  instinct 
has  consecrated  the  coinage  of  the  world  to  religion. 


22  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

You  have  but  to  look  at  the  money  of  any  people,  to 
know    at   what    altars    they   worshipped.     But    the 
comage  of  the  United  States  is  ivithoiit  a  God.     The 
startling  remark  has  been  made  by  an  able  numis- 
matist amongst  us,  that  if  our  nation  should  perish, 
and  nothing  be  left  of  its  liistory  but  our  coins,  the 
future    antiquarian    could   never   learn   from   them 
whether  we  were  a  Christian  or  a  heathen  people. 
The  presumption,  from  the  emblems  impressed  upon 
our  money,  (which  are  heathen,  if  they  have   any 
theological   character,)   would  be  in  favour  of  our 
paganism.     This  is  not  a  trivial  matter.     For  while 
the  Dei  gratia  of  a  currency  may  consort  with  regal 
and  popular  infidelity,  the  entire  absence^  of  all  such 
emblems  and  legends  from  the  coins  of  a  nominally 
Christian  nation,  must  be  taken  to  indicate  as  much 
a  want  of  reverence  for  the  13eity,   as  a  want  of 
respect  for  the  common  religious  sentiment  of  man- 
kind.    Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  this  opprobrium 
may  be  wiped  away  \     If  we  have  never  been  taught 
the  lesson  before,  we  are  admonished  of  it  now,  that 
"The  Lord  reigneth."     Has  not  the  time  come  to 
make  our  formal  national  confession  of  this  funda- 
mental truth — to  impress  it  upon  our  coinage"? — to 
insert  it  (peradventure  it  may  not  be  too  late)  as  the 
Key-stone  of  our  rrven  and  tottering  Constitution'? 
If  the  country  is  not  ready  for  these  two  simple  but 


THE    LORD    REIGNETH.  23 

significant  steps  in  the  direction  of  Christianity,  we 
have  been  chastened  to  very  little  purpose. 

But  let  it  not  be  imagined  that  there  is  nothing 
else  to  be  reformed.  It  must  be  recorded  to  our 
shame,  that  the  Christians  of  our  country  have  been 
criminally  remiss  in  respect  to  their  social  and  poli- 
tical obligations:  and  to  this  neglect  it  is  largely 
owing  that  God's  authority  has  been  so  much  con- 
temned amongst  us.  "There  has  been  no  time 
(observes  an  admirable  writer)  since  our  origin  as  a 
nation,  when  the  united  voices  and  efforts  of  the 
Christians  of  this  country  could  not  have  accom- 
plished any  object  they  desired,  provided  the  measure 
was  conceived  in  the  true  spirit  of  Christian  wisdom 
and  toleration.  There  has  been  no  time  when  it 
was  not  the  duty  of  the  Christians  of  this  country 
to  consider,  under  the  full  light  of  that  Christianity 
which  beamed  upon  them  undimmed  from  the  word 
of  God,  what  policy  and  what  measures  were  best 
fitted  to  improve  and  preserve  our  political  institu- 
tions, and  what  course  of  government  or  legislation 
would  most  improve  the  moral,  religious,  and  social 
well-being  of  the  whole  people."*  These  just  obser- 
vations have  lost  none  of  their  force  by  reason  of 
the  lapse  of  ten  years  since  they  were  penned.  They 
had  no  reference  to  a  "Christian  party  in  politics;" 

*  "Politics  for  American  Christians."     Stephen  Colwell. 


24  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

much  less  to  that  phantom  of  "  Church  and  State" 
which  has  inspired  the  declamation  of  so  many  place- 
hunters.  They  were  levelled  at  an  evil  of  gigantic 
proportions,  viz.  the  unfaithfulness  of  the  Christians 
of  our  country  to  their  political  duties.  Professing 
to  regard  Christianity  as  the  paramount  concern  of 
man,  and  to  recognise  the  Divine  protection  as  the 
only  security  for  nations,  they  have,  to  a  great  extent, 
abjured  politics  and  left  the  management  of  our 
affairs  to  whoever  might  succeed  in  seizing  the  reins. 
As  a  general  thing,  they  have  shunned  nomination  to 
office,  and  taken  no  pains  to  insure  the  election  of 
suitable  men.  They  have  not  brought  their  influ- 
ence to  bear,  in  any  suitable  degree,  upon  the  course 
of  legislation,  so  as  to  guard  the  interests  of  morality, 
and  foster  the  healthy,  conservative  element  in  our 
institutions.  They  have  too  often  sacrificed  either 
to  personal  ease  or  to  party,  what  was  due  to  their 
country;  and  by  their  silence  connived  at  that  fright- 
ful corruption  which  has  of  late  years  spread  like  a 
leprosy  through  the  whole  domain  of  our  politics. 
What  wonder  that  the  nation  should  come  to  deny 
that  "THE  Lord  reigns,"  when  his  own  people  fail 
to  acknowledge  it^  What  marvel  that  His  rights 
should  be  trampled  in  the  dust,  when  those  to  whose 
watch  He  has  confided  them  betray  the  sacred  trust  1 
If   this   is    strong    language,   the    occasion   will 


THE    LORD    REIGNETH.  JO 

justify  it.  This  desolating  war  compels  every 
thoughtful  man  to  inquire  into  the  causes  which 
have  produced  it.  And  one  of  the  earliest  conclu- 
sions forced  upon  us,  is,  that  our  government  is 
racked  and  shattered,  because  the  Christian  men  of 
the  land,  and  those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  them, 
have  put  forth  no  proper  exertions  to  take  care  of 
it:  because  they  have  been  too  much  engrossed  with 
other  pursuits,  to  keep  the  nation,  as  by  a  united 
and  persistent  effort  they  might  have  kept  it,  from 
that  fatal  deterioration  which  follows  the  general 
denial  or  disparagement  of  God's  sovereignty,  as 
certainly  as  darkness  follows  the  withdrawal  of  the 
sun.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  that  there  is  no  real 
religion  amongst  us;  nor  that  the  churches  of  our 
country  have  entirely  failed  of  their  mission.  Far 
from  it ;  the  gospel  has  achieved  many  of  its  noblest 
triumphs  here.  But  whether  from  a  mistaken  view 
of  its  legitimate  sphere,  or  from  other  causes,  the 
Christianity  of  the  land  has  stood  .  so  much  aloof 
from  our  politics,  that  although,  in  a  sort,  a  nation 
of  Christians,  we  are,  in  a  very  qualified  sense  only, 
a  Christian  nation.  However  this  war  may  termi- 
nate, we  have  a  dismal' future  before  us,  unless  the 
reJiyion  of  the  country  means  hereafter  to  make 
itself  felt  in  our  public  affairs  as  it  has  not  been 
during  the  last  half  century.     So  little,  in  fact,  has 


26  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

the  nation  been  imbued  with  a  proper  religions 
sentiment — with  the  feeling,  "the  Lord  reigneth" 
— that  our  most  characteristicf  sin  is  found  in  the 
general  prevalence  of  a  spirit  which  is  the  very 
opposite  of  this,  the  spirit  of  self-suiRciency  and 
rude  boasting.  No  one  will  ask  for  argument  on 
this  point.  We  have  gloried  in  ourselves — in  our 
liberty,  our  intelligence,  our  enterprise,  our  prowess, 
our  constitution,  our  Union — until  all  Europe  has 
jeered  at  our  vanity  and  anathematized  our  arro- 
gance. No  people  except  the  Hebrews  ever  had 
so  much  to  keep  them  mindful  of  the  presence  and 
the  goodness  of  God:  "for  what  nation  is  there  so 
great,  who  hath  God  so  nigh  unto  them,  as  the  Lord 
our  God  has  been  in  all  things  that  we  have  called 
upon  him  forT'  But  the  munificence  of  his  bounty 
has  only  made  us  more  supercilious;  and  while 
accepting  and  using  his  blessings,  we  have  offered 
incense  to  our  own  superior  virtue  as  the  procuring 
cause  of  them.  If  there  be  any  so  blind  that  they 
have  not  seen  this  sin  before,  they  may  read  it  now 
in  its  punishment.  God  has  smitten  us  in  our  most 
vulnerable  part.  Our  idols  are  in  the  dust.  Our 
glorying  is  turned  to  shame.  We  are  beginning  to 
learn  that  "the  Lord  reigns;"  and  that  he  is  "a 
jealous  God,  who  will  not  give  his  glory  to  another." 


THE   LORD    REIGNETH.  27 

If  we  are  learning  this,  we  have  struck  tlie  only 
trail  w^hich  can  lead  us  out  of  this  labyrinth  of  woes, 
and  conduct  us  to  an  honourable  peace.  There 
must  be  no  abatement  in  the  measures  adopted  for 
the  public  defence,  but  rather  increased  energy  and 
augmented  preparations.  But  we  must  return  to 
God.  This  is  the  vital  thing.  We  must  restore  to 
him  the  sceptre  we  have  profanely  attempted  to 
wrest  from  his  hand.  \\q  must  acknowledge  his 
sovereignty,  and  lay  our  honours  at  his  feet.  We 
must  submit  in  humility  to  his  rebukes,  and  peni- 
tently plead  with  him  to  withdraw  his  rod.  At 
whatever  cost,  through  whatever  depths  of  self- 
abasement,  we  must  regain  his  favour.  And  we 
shall  do  it,  if  we  seek  him  as  we  ought.  "  He  hath 
smitten,  and  he  will  bind  us  up.  After  two  days 
will  he  revive  us:  in  the  third  day  he  will  raise  us 
up,  and  we  shall  live  in  his  sight."  This  is  the 
acknowledged  design  of  the  afflictions  with  which 
he  visits  .his  people  as  individuals,  to  humble  and 
purify  them,  and  bring  them  nearer  to  himself. 
And  we  are  warranted  in  putting  a  similar  inter- 
pretation upon  the  calamities  with  which  he  scourges 
Christian  nations.  Whenever  these  afflictions  have 
produced  their  proper  effect  upon  us,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  our  Heavenly  Father  will  lay  aside  the 


28  THE    LORD    EEIGXETH. 

rod  with  which,  in  such  righteous  seventy,  he  is 
smiting  us. 

There  are  two  or  three  obvious  considerations 
which  lend  countenance  to  this  belief.  One  is 
derived  from  our  past  history.  AVe  need  not  go 
into  details.  As  was  just  now  observed,  the  annals 
of  the  Hebrews  excepted,  there  is  no  nation  whose 
origin  and  progress  have  been  marked  by  so  many 
wonderful  interpositions  of  God's  hand.  The  colo- 
nizing of  this  continent,  the  Revolution,  the  organi- 
zation of  the  government,  and  the  unexampled 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  nation,  have  too  often 
been  dwelt  upon  in  this  relation,  to  make  it  neces- 
sary to  recite  particular  events  here.  It  is  not 
reasonable  to  presume  that  He  who  has  built  up  so 
costly  and  beneficent  a  fxbric,  will  suffer  it  to  be 
destroyed  before  it  has  completed  its  first  century. 

For  it  is  not  simply  a  political  structure.  Even 
in  this  view  we  cannot  be  at  fault  in  supposing  that 
it  has  exerted  a  most  benign  and  powerful  influence 
upon  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  throughout  the  earth. 
But  God  has  a  Church  in  this  land.  In  another 
connection  I  have  spoken  of  its  omissions  and 
failures.  But  imperfect  and  unfaithful  as  it  has 
been,  it  comprises  some  millions  of  individuals,  who 
either   profess   the   name   of  Christ,   or  constantly 


THE   LORD    REIGNETH.  29 

celebrate  his  worship.  This  Church  has  not  wholly 
neglected  its  work.  It  has  done  much  to  provide 
the  ordinances  of  religion  for  our  own  expanding 
population.  It  has  given  the  gospel  to  many  pagan 
lands.  It  has  enjoyed  numerous  unequivocal  tokens 
of  the  Divine  favour.  Can  we  believe  that  He  who 
died  to  ransom  his  Church,  and  who  is  "Head  over 
all  things  to  the  Church,"  will  abandon  this  Church] 
Or  can  we  doubt  that  he  will  show  himself  "flivour- 
able  to  our  land"  for  the  Church's  sake  1 

I  merely  suggest  these  thoughts.  They  may 
prove  nothing.  But  they  forbid  us  to  despair  of 
our  country.  They  reprove  our  unbelief,  and  bid  us 
"  trust  in  the  Lord  God  of  our  fathers,"  even  though 
we  cani^ot  pierce  the  clouds  and  darkness  which  are 
round  about  him.  These  clouds  will  pass  away. 
Our  beloved  country  will  yet  come  forth  from  this 
baptism  of  blood,  purified  as  gold  that  is  tried  in 
the  fire;  and  our  Father's  face  will  again  smile 
upon  us,  a  wiser,  meeker,  and  better  people. 
• 

But  whether  these  grateful  anticipations  are  to 
be  realized  or  not,  let  us  ^'•rejoice'''  that  "the  Lord 
REIGNETH."  Amidst  the  tumult  and  alarm,  the  sor- 
row and  suffering,  which  surround  us,  tliis  one 
thought  comes  to  the  heart,  like  the  dove  with  its 


30  THE    LORD    REIGNETH. 

olive-branch  across  the  surging  waters.  He  who 
controlled  those  angry  waves  and  guarded  the  ark, 
is  still  on  the  throne. 

"■  He  sat  serene  upon  the  floods, 
Their  fury  to  restrain; 
And  He,  as  Sovereign,  Lord,  and  King, 
For  evermore  shall  reign." 

Here  the  Christian  will  find  rest:  his  Father 
reigns.  We  may  trust  our  country  in  his  hands. 
He  loves  all  that  is  good  in  it  far  more  than  we  do. 
He  is  more  the  Friend  of  human  freedom  and  hap- 
piness than  we  are.  He  knows  just  what  this 
nation  requires  in  order  to  prepare  it  for  its  future 
mission.  And  he  will  suffer  nothing  to  happen  to 
it  which  is  not  adapted  to  work  out  his  own  pur- 
poses, and  contribute  to  the  ultimate  and  universal 
triumph  of  his  Church,  the  grand  and  absorbing 
interest  of  earth — for  which  alone  the  earth  is 
preserved. 

I  know  it  is  easier  to  inculcate  this  trust  than  to 
exercise  it.  Standing  where  we  do,  sense  and  faith 
are  in  conflict.  We  would  commit  our  country  to 
God's  keeping.  We  would  rejoice  that  he  reigns. 
But  it  costs  a  struggle.  The  feeling  is,  "  Lord,  I 
believe:  help  thou  mine  unbelief."     But  this  is  our 


THE   LORD    REIGNETH.  31 

only  resource.  The  issue  is  with  him.  His  will 
must  and  will  prevail.  "The  floods  lift  up  their 
voice,  the  floods  lift  up  their  waves ;  but  the  Lord 
on  high  is  mightier  than  the  noise  of  many  waters, 
yea,  than  the  mighty  waves  of  the  sea."  And  if 
we  cannot  consent  to  his  sovereignty,  and  trust  him 
with  our  country's  destiny,  there  is  nothing  left  to 
us  but  the  gloom  of  unbelief,  and  a  prolonged  har- 
vest of  discontent,  and  terror,  and  bitter  tears.  But 
we  can  trust  him.  We  will  trust  him.  We  know 
that  he  wdll  not  forsake  us.  With  all  the  tribes  of 
earth  we  will  exult  in  his  dominion.     "The  Lord 

REIGNETH :  LET  THE  EARTH  REJOICE;  LET  THE  MULTI- 
TUDE OF  ISLES  BE  GLAD  THEREOF.  ClOUDS  AXD  DARK- 
NESS ARE  ROUND  ABOUT  HIM:  RIGHTEOUSNESS  AND 
JUDGMENT  ARE  THE   HABITATION  OF    HIS   THRONE." 


IIE\LI\fi  WD  S\LV\T1()\'  FOR  Oil  COL'XTRV 
FROM  COD  ALOM. 


A    SEHMON 


Preached   in   the   Tenth    Preshyteriax    Church,    Philadelphia, 
ON  Thanksgiving  Day,  Nov.  24,  18G4. 


BY 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
WILLIAM   S.   &   ALFRED   MARTIEN, 

No.  600  Chestnut  Street. 
1864. 


Philadelphia,  December  6,  1864. 
To  the  Rev.  Henrt  A.  Boardman,  D.D. 

Dear  Sir : — The  undersigned,  almost  all  of  whom  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  your  late 

Thanksgiving  Discourse,  believing  that  its  general   circulation  would  both  gratify  and 

benefit  many  besides  themselves,  beg  the  favor  of  you  to  permit  them  to  have  the  Discourse 

published.    Should  you  accede  to  our  request,  please  hand  the  manuscript  to  the  bearer  of 

this  note,  in  order  to  publication,  and  oblige, 

Yours,  very  truly  and  respectfully, 

R.  C.  GRIKR, 

JOHN  H.BROWN, 

THOMAS  A.  SCOTT, 

W.  H.  DRAYTON, 

JAMES  THOMPSON, 

JAMES  ROSS  SNOWDEN, 

WILLIAM  A.  PORTER, 

WILLIAM  M.  SMITH, 

WILLIAM  B.  HIESKELL, 

R.  CRESSWELL, 


ROBERT  PATTERSON, 
SAMUEL  HOOD, 
JOS.  PATTERSON, 
THEODORE  CUYLER, 
II.  L.  SPROAT, 
JAMES  SCHOTT, 
D.  HAYES  AGNEW, 
CHARLES  F.  HASELTINE, 
ROBERT  U.  McGRATH, 
SAMUEL  ASBURY. 


Philadelphia,  December  8, 1864. 
Gentlemen: — It  was  the  aim  of  my  Thanksgiving  Sermon  to  present,  in  the  simplest 
form,  the  one  great  truth  which  is  clearly  of  paramount  importance  to  us  in  our  present 
troubles.  I  suppose  there  is  ground  here  upon  which  Christian  men  of  all  sects  and 
all  political  parties  can  stand  together.  It  gratifies  me  to  know  that  the  Discourse  met 
your  approval;  and  I  cheerfully  place  it  in  your  hands,  precisely  as  written  and  delivered. 
With  much  respect, 

I  am  faithfully  your's, 

HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN. 
To  the  Hon.  R.  C.  Grier, 

Major-Gen.  Patterson, 

John  H.  Brown,  Esq.,  and  others. 


SERMON. 


Jeremiah    xvii.    14: — "heal  me,  o  lord,  and   i   shall  be  healed: 

SAVE    ME,    AND    I    SHALL    BE    SATED:    FOR    THOU    ART    MY    PRAISE." 

The  occasion  calls  for  a  sermon  of  thanksgiving. 
To  this  service  the  day  is  dedicated.  The  sanctua- 
ries of  the  land  are  thrown  open;  and  from  the  high 
seats  of  magistracy,  the  people  are  summoned  to  enter 
in  and  lay  their  sacrifices  of  praise  upon  the  altars  of 
the  Most  High.  "^Ve  have  cause  for  thanksgiving. 
Our  personal  and  domestic  blessings  are  not  to 
be  numbered.  The  least  favored  amongst  us  are 
loaded  with  mercies.  Who  can  review  his  life 
without  exclaiming,  "Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul, 
and  forget  not  all  his  benefits"?  Who  can  look 
around  him  without  feeling  that  his  blessings  greatly 
exceed  his  trials,  and  immeasurably  transcend  his 
desert]  The  happiness  of  life  is  mostly  made  up 
of  little  things, — so  little,  that  they  pass,  often, 
without  being  chronicled,  or  even  noticed.  A  true 
disciple  will  find  motives  to  gratitude  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  rational  faculties ;  in  his  daily  food  and 
raiment;  in  his  means  of  culture  and  improvement; 


in  his  business,  his  books,  his  friends;  in  the  inter- 
change of  social  sympathies;  in  the  opportunities  of 
doing  and  receiving  good;  in  whatever  of  comfort 
he  may  derive  from  his  home.  It  is  a  great  mercy 
that  we  pass  so  many  days  and  months  without 
experience  of  bodily  pain  or  sickness;  and  that 
when  sickness  and  sorrow  do  come,  they  bring  so 
many  alleviations  with  them.  Especially  ought  we 
to  be  thankful  for  God's  Holy  Word;  for  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ;  the  mission  of  the  Spirit;  the  Sab- 
bath and  its  ordinances;  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins;  reconciliation  to  God;  the  consolations  of  the 
Gospel;  and  the  hope  of  everlasting  felicity.  These 
surely  are  mercies  which  may  well  enkindle  the 
gratitude  of  every  heart. 

With  great  propriety,  also,  have  we  been  reminded 
of  the  exemption  of  the  country  from  pestilence  and 
famine,  and  foreign  war.  Had  any  one  of  these 
scourges  been  laid  upon  us,  it  might  have  brought 
us  to  the  brink  of  ruin.  That  they  have  been 
averted,  is  to  be  ascribed  wholly  to  the  unmerited 
goodness  of  our  Heavenly  Father. 

Even  the  history  of  this  fatal  war  is  not  without 
reasons  for  thanksgiving.  It  is  of  the  Divine 
mercy  that  this  rebellion  has  not  attained  its  end 
in  the  overthrow  of  our  government ;  and  that  our 
people  have  with  such  unanimity  come  forward  to 


the  maintenance  of  our  Constitution  and  Union. 
Vs'e  must  refer  to  His  hand  all  the  successes  with 
which  he  has  been  pleased  to  crown  our  army  and 
navy ;  and  all  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in 
suppressing  this  most  criminal  revolt.  We  may  be 
thankful  that  any  Slave  States  have  become  free; 
and  should  any  method  of  universal  emancipation  be 
devised,  which,  like  that  adopted  in  our  own  and 
other  Northern  States,  shall  not  involve  the  destruc- 
tion of  either  the  black  or  the  white  race,  but  con- 
duce to  the  amelioration  and  happiness  of  both; 
we  shall  have  very  great  cause  for  gratitude  to  God. 
Another  beam  of  light  which  relieves  the  darkness 
of  this  scene,  may  be  found  in  the  noble  spirit  of 
philanthropy  which  has  been  evoked  by  the  Avar ; 
in  the  lavish  contributions  and  generous  labors 
applied  to  the  relief  of  our  sick  and  wounded  sol- 
diers and  sailors. 

Here  are  themes  for  thanksgiving ;  and  others 
might  be  specified.  But  after  all,  this  is  but  one 
side  of  the  picture.  We  need  not  dissemble  the 
feeling,  that  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  country 
is  not  one  of  praise  and  rejoicing.  With  no  dis- 
position to  surrender  its  birthright,  the  land,  never- 
theless, is  very  full  of  sorrow.  Puttino^  out  of  si^ht 
that  large  class  to  whom  the  war  is  bringing  sudden 
wealth,    and    that   larger   class   of   frivolous    people 


whose  heartless  merriment  nothing  short  of  the 
grave  could  extinguish ;  most  persons  are  oppressed 
with  our  national  troubles.  We  did  not  look  for 
three  years  and  a  half  of  war.  We  did  not  count 
upon  the  mutilation  and  slaughter  of  some  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  our  young  men.  We  did  not  expect 
to  see  death  and  sorrow  carried  into  every  village 
and  hamlet  of  the  country.  We  were  not  prepared 
to  find  ourselves,  after  so  many  frightful  battles, 
confronted  by  a  future  as  dark  and  impenetrable  as 
that  which  now  rises  before  us.  And,  therefore, 
while  we  are  grateful  for  God's  manifold  mercies, 
the  feeling  which  pervades  the  land  to-day  is  not 
one  purely  of  thanksgiving.  This  must  be  my 
apology  for  selecting  a  text  which  may,  perhaps, 
have  fallen  upon  your  ears  with  an  unwelcome  sound 
"  Heal  me,  O  Lord,  and  I  shall  be  healed ;  save  me, 
and  I  shall  be  saved :  for  Thou  art  my  praise." 

It  seems  to  be  an  ejaculation  of  the  Prophet,  who, 
turning  from  the  contemplation  of  the  judgments 
with  which  God  was  about  visiting  his  country  for 
its  sins,  reverently  confesses  his  own  morally  diseased 
and  helpless  state,  and  supplicates  the  Divine  pity. 
The  sentiment  is  equally  appropriate  to  an  afflicted 
nation  and  an  afflicted  individual.  I  shall  treat  of  it 
very  briefly,  as  the  prayer  with  which  it  becomes 
us  as  a  nation,  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God. 


The  general  proposition  I  wish  to  lay  down,  is, 
that   God   alone   can  "heal"  our   maladies,  and 

"  SAVE  "     us     FROM     THE      EVILS     WHICH     OPPRESS    OR 

THREATEN  US.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  language  that 
we  can  hope  for  deliverance,  only  through  some 
direct,  and,  as  it  were,  miraculous  intervention  of 
the  Supreme  Being ;  but,  simply,  that  He  must  pro- 
vide the  means  and  instruments;  raise  up  the  men, 
and  guide  their  counsels ;  control  all  hearts,  and 
overrule  all  events,  to  the  furtherance  of  the  desired 
ends;  if  the  nation  is  to  be  effectually  "healed"  and 
"saved."  The  case  is  past  human  cure.  No  people 
can  get  on  wisely  and  well,  even  in  prosperous 
times,  without  His  guiding  hand;  how  much  less  a 
people  in  our  circumstances. 

For  the  clearing  of  this  point,  consider,  that  it  is 
God  who  has  visited  us  with  these  calamities. 

You  will  not  misunderstand  this  remark.  Your 
theology  recognizes  a  Providence — a  universal  Provi- 
dence— a  Providence  which  comprehends  all  crea- 
tures and  all  events.  You  believe  that  whatever 
is,  is  by  his  appointment  or  by  his  permission;  that, 
while  he  cannot  ordain  moral  evil,  he  can  permit  it ; 
and  that  what  he  permits,  is  just  as  essential  a  part  of 
his  plan  as  what  he  ordains.  You  see  his  hand  in 
the  fall  of  the  angels,  in  the  sin  of  our  first  parents, 
and  in  all  the  wars  which  have  carried  sorrow  and 


8 

carnage  through  the  earth.  You  have  learned  from 
his  own  word,  that  war  is  as  much  one  of  his  imple- 
ments for  punishing  nations,  as  pestilence  or  famine  ; 
that  it  was,  more  than  any  other,  the  scourge  he 
used  for  chastising  the  Hebrews  ;  that  it  was 
the  ordinary  judgment  he  denounced  prophetically 
against  the  great  pagan  monarchies  of  antiquity;  and 
that  he  everywhere  challenges  the  same  absolute 
authority  over  war,  in  respect  to  its  source,  its 
instruments,  its  duration,  and  its  effects,  as  he  does 
over  the  elements  and  the  irrational  animals.  To 
cite  extended  proofs  of  this,  would  be  to  imply 
that  you  had  never  looked  into  your  Bibles. 

We  affirm,  then,  that  this  war  which  is  ravaging 
our  country,  is  of  God.  The  causes,  remote  and 
proximate,  which  led  to  it, — the  oppression,  the 
fanaticism,  the  ambition,  the  cupidity,  the  disregard 
of  human  rights,  and  the  invasion  of  constitutional 
rights ;  the  wrongs  and  the  sins  on  the  one  side 
and  on  the  other,  were  of  his  permission,  as  really 
as  was  the  actual  commencement  of  the  war  against 
the  Union — the  baleful  result  in  which  they  all 
culminated.  Not  to  concede  this,  were  to  suppose 
that  here  was  a  series  of  events  pregnant  with 
momentous  consequences,  which  was  independent 
of  God's  control, — a  step  only  from  handing  the 
world  over  to  the  sway  of  a  dismal  atheism.     But 


9 

if  these  things  were  of  God,  so  also  must  have 
been  tlie  whole  course  of  the  war ;  and  not  less,  the 
various  evils  which  now  loom  up  on  the  hori- 
zon,— the  natural  product  of  the  fatal  contest  that 
has  been  forced  upon  us,  largely  augmented  by 
human  infirmity  and  passion. 

This  general  view  might  suffice  to  show,  that  o in- 
only  hope  of  deliverance  is  in  God.  If  he  sent 
these  evils,  he  alone  can  remove  them.  He  claims 
it  as  his  prerogative,  "I  wound,  and  I  heal." 
(Deut.  xxxii.  39.)  None  can  "wound"  without  his 
leave ;  nor  can  any  "  heal "  without  his  help.  If 
this  were  practicable  in  any  circumstances,  it  could 
not  be  in  our's ;  the  wounds  are  too  many  and  too 
deep.  If  the  Great  Physician  do  not  undertake 
the  case,  it  must  be  given  over  as  hopeless.  A 
little  attention  to  details  will  make  this  appa- 
rent. 

In  \\ie  first  place,  there  is  the  military  problem. 

In  April,  1861,  this  was  thought  to  be  a  very 
simple  problem.  Turning  back  to  almost  any  file 
of  newspapers  of  that  day,  one  will  encounter  a 
strain  of  confidence  and  self-glorying,  which  re- 
flected but  too  faithfully  the  public  sentiment. 
Arithmetic  was  put  to  the  genial  task  of  cyphering 
out  the  military  weakness  of  the  South.  A  people 
so  destitute  of  manufactures,  sparsely  diffused  over 


10 

a  broad  extent  of  territory,  and  hampered  by  the 
presence  of  four  millions  of  slaves  who  would 
instantly  spring  to  arms  against  their  masters,  must 
soon  succumb  to  our  armies.  The  period  fixed  in 
the  high  places  of  the  land  for  the  duration  of  the 
war,  and  published  to  all  the  Cabinets  of  Europe, 
was  "three  months."  Would  to  God  that  the 
prophecy  had  been  of  a  loftier  inspiration.  The 
three  months  have  become  three  years — and  now 
wise  men  refrain  from  predicting  when  the  end  is 
to  be. 

To  review  the  progress  of  the  war  would  be  as 
impracticable  here,  as  it  would  be  useless  to  pro- 
nounce a  panegyric  upon  our  army  and  navy.  Their 
patriotism,  their  courage,  their  endurance,  are  the 
theme  of  every  tongue.  They  have  won  numerous 
battles.  They  have  achieved  great  results.  But  it 
were  puerile  to  pretend  that  all  has  been  done  which 
we  have  hoped  for,  and  prayed  for,  and  looked  for. 
Powerful  armies  still  confront  our  forces.  And  no 
one  is  so  sanguine  as  to  believe  that  the  rebellion 
can  or  will  be  subdued,  until  we  have  raised  new 
armies  still.  The  feeling  lies  unuttered  in  many  a 
bosom,  that  tens  of  thousands  of  graves  may  yet  be 
added  to  the  vast  cities  of  the  dead,  peopled  by  this 
war. 

Have  these  facts  no  voice'?     Do  they  not  in  thun- 


11 

der  tones  proclaim  a  God'?  Do  they  not  affirm,  that 
"  the  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the 
strong;"  but  "the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  kingdpm 
of  men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomsoever  he  wilU"  If 
there  are  any  so  blinded  by  party-feeling,  or  so 
delirious  with  revenge,  as  to  contemn  these  truths, 
the  discipline  of  these  three  gloomy  years  has  been 
lost  upon  them.  While  the  war  goes  on,  we  must 
confide  in  our  armies.  But  to  confide  in  them, 
irrespective  of  the  God  of  battles,  were  a  huge 
impiety.  Here,  beyond  a  question,  has  been  our 
mistake.  Instead  of  exalting  God,  we  have  exalted 
man.  We  have  glorified  our  own  skill  and  prowess 
and  numbers,  without  considering  sufficiently  that 
armies  and  nations  are  before  God  as  the  chaff  of 
the  summer  threshing-floor.  The  feeling  which  befits 
us  to-day  is,  "Some  trust  in  chariots  and  some  in 
horses:  but  we  will  remember  the  name  of  the  Lord 
our  God."  Our  own  skill  has  not  availed  to  "heal" 
us.  Our  own  bravery  has  not  availed  to  "save"  us. 
Let  us  go  to  Him  who  holds  the  reins  of  every  war, 
and  decides  the  issue  of  every  battle,  and  cry,  "  Heal 
us,  O  Lord,  and  we  shall  be  healed;  save  us,  and  we 
shall  be  saved:  for  Thou  art  our  praise." 

The  necessity  for  this  appeal  to  God  will  be  no 
less  apparent,  if  we  turn,  in  the  second  place,  from 
the  military  to  the  political  problem. 


12 

The  end  to  be  accomplished — the  end,  i.  e.,  which 
all  parties  profess  to  have  in  view — is,  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Union.     The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  this 
result,  were  very  formidable  from  the  hour  hostilities 
commenced.     They  have  been  multiplied  a  hundred- 
fold since.     The  question  is  one  which  reaches  to 
the    very  foundations  of  the  government;   and    in- 
volves every  vital  principle  embodied  in  our  Consti- 
tution.    It  comprehends,  on  the  one  hand,  all   the 
delicate  problems  pertaining  to  the  relations  of  the 
Federal  and  State  organizations;  and,  on  the  other, 
all  the  interests   involved  in   the  subject  of  Slavery. 
There  is  no  lack  of  sciolists  who  are  ready  to  dogma- 
tize on  each  of  these  topics;  nor  of  heated  partisans, 
who   use  them  as  vehicles   for  coarse  vituperation. 
One   need   not   spend  his    breath    in   arguing   with 
either  simpletons  or  madmen.     Thoughtful  men  of 
all  parties  must  feel  the  solemnity  of  these  problems. 
Take  the  latter  of  them.     Here  is  a  system  of  servi- 
tude coeval  almost  with  the  colonizing  of  the  South. 
It   has   grown    with   its  growth,    and  strengthened 
with  its    streno^th.     The    whole    social  structure  is 
pervaded  by  it:  it  runs   through  its  domestic,  civil, 
commercial,  and  religious  life,  as  the  arteries  and  veins 
do  through  the  human  body.     That  it  has  carried 
debility  and  disease  with  it;    that   it  has  produced 
an  untold  amount  of  evil,  physical  and  moral,  (as  it 


13 

has,  certainly,  in  ten  thousand  cases,  been  overruled 
for  the  good  of  the  inferior  race),  only  complicates 
the  problem.  In  every  view,  it  is  a  colossal  institu- 
tion. We  must  all  deplore  its  existence.  AVe  must 
all  reprobate  its  agency  in  stimulating  the  leaders 
of  this  rebellion  to  their  assault  upon  the  Union. 
We  must  all  desire  the  well-being  of  the  African 
race.  But  how  to  meet  the  questions  which  the 
course  of  the  war  is  beginning  to  force  upon  us, 
is  a  task  for  which  few  will  feel  themselves  pre- 
pared, who  are  capable  of  comprehending  these 
questions. 

I  am  not  speaking  for  or  against  any  political 
party ;  nor  for  or  against  any  line  of  policy.  You 
belong  to  all  parties.  You  have  a  common  stake 
in  the  welfare  of  the  country;  and  a  common  desire 
for  the  safety  and  improvement  of  the  two  races. 
And  you  must  view  with  a  common  solicitude  the 
approach  (for  it  seems  to  be  approaching),  of  a  period 
when  you  are  to  stand  face  to  face  with  the  ques- 
tion, "What  is  to  be  done  with  four  millions  of 
emancipated  blacks'?  What  will  their  good  demand 
of  the  country  1  What  provision  will  or  can  be 
made  for  their  control  and  education]  And  how  is 
the  mighty  convulsion  which  must  follow  the  sud- 
den  annihilation  of  this  complex   system,  to  be  so 


14 

guided  and  mollified  as  to  be  made  a  savor  of  life, 
and  not  of  death! 

These  are  topics  for  humane  and  patriotic  men 
of  all  parties — as  well  for  those  who  deprecate 
the  overthrow  of  slavery  as  a  misfortune  to  the 
servile  race,  as  for  those  who  can  see  in  the  system 
only  unmixed  evil.  The  single  object  for  which 
they  are  introduced  here,  is  to  show  that  we  need 
a  more  than  mortal  wisdom  to  conduct  us  through 
this  labyrinth.  The  country  is  not  without  skilful 
statesmen  and  large-hearted  philanthropists.  But 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  has  for  centuries 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  philanthropists  and  statesmen 
of  a  nation,  to  deal  with  problems  so  profound  and 
intricate  as  those  which  seem  about  to  demand  a 
solution  here.  Happily,  there  is  one  resource  left 
us;  it  is  the  only  one.  "The  foolishness  of  God 
is  wiser  than  men."  To  His  eye,  this  tangled  maze 
is  lighted  up  as  by  a  meridian  sun:  this  chaos  is  sym- 
metry and  beauty.  He  knows  what  is  best  for  the 
slave  and  for  the  master;  for  the  South  and  for  the 
North,  and  for  both  combined.  If  He  has  decreed 
that  the  system  shall  be  annulled,  He  knows  just 
how  it  should  be  done ;  and  how  the  African  should 
be  cared  for;  and  how  the  issues  of  the  crisis  can 
all  be  met ;  and  the  country  "  healed"  of  its  wounds, 
and   "saved"   from   its   peril.     And,  therefore,  our 


15 

great  and  urgent  duty  is  to  commend  our  rulers  to 
His  teaching ;  to  supplicate  for  our  whole  nation 
that  divine  illumination  which  He  alone  can  bestow ; 
and  to  cry  to  him  unceasingly,  "  Heal  us,  O  Lord, 
and  we  shall  be  healed;  save  us,  and  we  shall  be 
saved:  for  Thou  art  our  praise." 

To  the  same  result  we  should  be  led  by  consider- 
ing the  other  of  the  two  topics  just  suggested,  the 
restoration  or  re-construction  of  the  Union.  I  state 
a  familiar  fact,  when  I  say,  that  there  is  no  question 
of  the  day  upon  which  there  is  a  greater  diversity 
of  opinion.  In  no  party  is  there  any  homogene- 
ity of  sentiment  on  the  subject.  It  divides  and 
subdivides  all  parties.  The  ablest  statesmen  of 
the  country  are  the  poles  apart.  The  question 
involves,  under  God,  the  entire  future  of  the  nation. 
And  confounding,  as  it  does,  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
land,  how  obvious,  how  indispensable,  the  duty  of 
laying  it  before  Him  who  can  resolve  it.  If  there 
be  any  method  by  which  these  States  can  be  brought 
together  again  in  a  just,  beneficent,  and  lasting 
Union,  He  must  reveal  it,  and  our  place  is  humbly 
to  ask  him  to  do  it. 

This  observation  brings  me  to  the  third  and  last 
of  the  great  problems  which  we  can  hope  to    see 
•resolved  only  by  invoking  God's  assistance,  viz.,  the 
social  problem. 


16 

In  the  judgment  of  very  many  on  both  sides  of 
this  fratricidal  war,  and  of  intelligent  foreigners 
generally,  the  great  difficulty  of  all  lies  here.  The 
conflict  of  arms  may  be  carried  to  a  decisive  issue. 
The  political  questions  of  slavery  and  re-construction 
may  be  disposed  of.  But  can  these  two  peoples 
ever  again  become  one  nation  1  If  by  one  nation 
here  were  intended  a  nation  in  the  sense  that 
Austria  is  one  nation — a  collection  of  provinces 
inhabited  by  distinct  races,  speaking  different 
tongues,  alien  from  one  another  in  all  their  tradi- 
tions, and  having  almost  nothing  in  common  but 
their  allegiance  to  the  same  sovereign — there  might 
be  no  Gordian  knot  to  untie.  But  such  a  union 
would  not  answer  the  first  conditions  of  our  great 
charter.  It  would  be  little  short  of  a  grim  bur- 
lesque upon  the  idea  of  a  republic.  For  the  pur- 
poses of  our  Constitution,  we  must  be  one  nation 
in  sentiment  and  sympathy — so  far  at  least  as  to 
be  able  and  willing  to  cooperate  in  carrying  on 
the  same  government,  acknowledging  the  same 
laws,  and  sharing  the  same  burdens.  This  implies 
somewhat  of  mutual  respect  and  confidence.  But 
this  war  has  alienated  the  two  sections  of  the  Union 
as  much  in  feeling  as  in  form.  It  has  replaced 
the  ancient  concord  with  hate  and  (shall  I  say  if?)* 
revenge.     The  testimonies    which    come    to    us   on 


17 

this  point  from  the  South,  and  which  too  often 
salute  our  own  eyes  and  ears,  would  seem  to  warrant 
the  conclusion,  that  any  real  miion  of  the  two 
populations  must  be  for  ever  impossible.  The  pre- 
valent sentiment  with  us  appears  to  be,  that  it  is 
onlv  a  forced  and  nominal  union  which  can  be 
expected  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances; 
and  even  to  this  the  South  is  not  willing  to  listen. 

Here  is  a  difficulty  which  the  most  sanguine  will 
concede  to  be  of  towering  proportions.  The  sphere 
to  which  it  pertains,  is  that,  not  of  government  and 
police,  of  manners  and  letters;  but  of  thought  and 
feeling.  The  task  to  be  performed  is  that  of  allay- 
ing resentments,  extinguishing  animosities,  taming 
enemies  into  friends,  and  obliterating  from  millions 
of  hearts  the  memories  of  battles,  conflagrations, 
hospitals  and  prisons,  rife  with  unutterable  sorrows. 
Of  course,  man  is  powerless  here.  What  can  he  do 
in  such  a  presence,  but  sit  down,  mute  and  sad  in 
his  conscious  helplessness] 

But  is  the  task,  therefore,  hopeless"?  I  do  not 
know  whether  it  will  ever  be  accomplished.  This 
only  I  know:  "That  with  God  all  things  are 
possible."  He  can  do  it.  He  can  cause  the  wrongs 
of  this  war  to  be  forgotten,  and  its  hatreds  buried. 
He  can  rekindle  the  fires  of  affection  upon  altars 
where  they  long  ago  went  out.  He  can  fuse  these 
2 


18 

discordant  fragments  into  a  homogeneous  mass, 
instinct  with  the  warmth  of  a  new  and  genial  life. 
He  can  make  us  again  one  nation — not  in  name 
and  aspect  merely,  but  in  sympathy  and  purpose. 
I  do  not  say  that  He  will  do  this.  I  say  He  can 
do  it ;  because  He  is  Omnipotent.  And,  further, 
if  it  be  a  part  of  his  purpose  (as  we  all  humbly 
hope  and  pray)  not  to  give  us  over  to  final  dismem- 
berment and  ruin,  wc  have  ground  to  believe  that, 
sooner  or  later.  He  will  do  it.  And  this  is  reason 
enough  why  we  should  plead  with  Him  on  this 
behalf;  why  we  should  cry  importunately,  "Heal 
us,  O  Lord,  and  we  shall  be  healed;  save  us,  and 
we  shall  be  saved:  for  Thou  art  our  praise." 

Not  to  advert  to  other  topics,  I  think  it  has 
been  shown  that  in  respect  to  the  three  great 
preblems  of  our  condition — the  military^  the  political 
and  the  social^  we  must  look  to  God  for  healing 
and  deliverance.  I  think  it  has  been  shown  that 
his  blessing  alone  can  crown  our  arms  with 
success:  that  we  may  succeed  there,  and,  if  left 
to  ourselves,  fail  disastrously  in  the  adjustment 
of  our  political  relations :  and  that  if  by  his  favor 
both  of  these  interests  could  be  arranged,  there 
would  still  remain  those  wide-spread  antipa- 
thies and  estrangements  which  He  alone  can 
compose.     It   has,    further,  been   pointed   out   that 


19 

if  we  desire  Him  to  interpose  for  tlic  healing  of 
our  maladies,  we  must  seek  this  great  mercy  at 
his  hands,  as  we  do  all  other  mercies,  by  earnest 
prayer.  This  implies  some  other  things  besides 
prayer;  especially  does  it  imply  A  general  refor- 
mation AND  RETURN  TO  GoD — at  once  the  evidence 
and  the  fruit  of  the  sincerity  of  our  prayers. 

Here,  precisely,  is  the  work  to  be  done,  if  we 
would  see  our  distracted  country  restored  to  peace 
and  unity.  We  watch  intently  the  measures  of  our 
Government.  We  await  with  anxiety  the  daily 
bulletins  from  the  field.  But  we  have  duties  nearer 
home.  Without  Divine  illumination  our  statesmen 
are  blind.  Without  Divine  protection  our  armies 
are  impotent.  These  armies  and  magistrates  are 
simply  the  representatives  of  the  nation.  It  is  the 
temper  of  the  nation  which  God  regards.  They  would 
not  fail  of  a  blessing,  if  we,  as  a  nation,  should  re- 
turn to  God.  Can  any  one  who  acknowledges  a 
Providence,  doubt  that  this  war  was  sent  as  a  punish- 
ment for  the  sins  of  the  nation;  that  it  has  been 
prolonged  on  account  of  our  sins;  and  that  if  we 
should  put  away  our  sins,  God  would  withdraw  his 
rod?  The  voice  which  comes  to  us  from  his  throne 
to-day,  is,  "  Return,  ye  backsliding  children,  and  I 
will  heal  your  backsliding."  Suppose  the  response 
could  go  up  from  every  part  of  our  land,  which  went 


20 

back  from  the  chosen  people :  "  Behold,  we  come 
unto  thee:  for  thou  are  the  Lord  our  God.  Truly 
in  vain  is  salvation  hoped  for  from  the  hills  and 
from  the  multitude  of  mountains :  truly  in  the  Lord 
our  God  is  the  salvation  of  Israel."  (Jer.  iii.  22, 
23.)  Would  you  not  look  to  see  the  land  presently 
resting  from  this  weary  war  1 

In  such  a  reformation  the  Church  is  bound  to 
take  the  lead.  Of  its  agency,  both  South  and  North, 
in  bringing  on  the  war,  and  protracting  it,  it  is  not 
needful  to  speak.  No  one,  it  is  presumed,  will  ven- 
ture to  say  that  it  is  guiltless  in  this  matter.  Nor 
will  it  be  denied,  that  it  may  exert  a  potential  influ- 
ence in  bringing  about  that  merciful  intervention 
of  an  injured  God,  which  would  speedily  terminate 
our  troubles. 

Not  to  enter  into  details,  there  are  in  our  country 
several  millions  of  persons  who  profess  the  evangeli- 
cal faith.  They  are  of  all  classes  and  all  occupa- 
tions. They  are  in  the  humblest  and  in  the  loftiest 
conditions.  They  are  in  daily  contact  with  our 
entire  population.  They  are  doing  more,  whether 
for  good  or  ill,  to  shape  the  destiny  of  the  country 
than  any  other  equal  portion  of  our  people.  These 
Christians  claim  to  be  the  followers  of  Christ. 
They  profess  to  be  imbued  with  his  Spirit,  and 
to   walk  in  his   steps.     There  is  not  one  of  them 


21 
who    will   not    admit,  that    it   is    his    paramount 

OBUGATIOX    TO    DO    WHAT    HE    BEUEVES    HIS     MaSTEK 

WOULD  DO,  if  He  were  here  in  his  circumstances. 

^Yhat.  then,  have  we  reason  to  believe  our  Sa- 
viour WOULD  DO,  if  He  were  here  during  these 
troublous  times  ?  He  would  do  just  what  He  did 
in  Judea.  It  would  be  his  meat  to  do  his  Father's 
will,  and  to  promote  his  Father's  glory.  He  would 
set  an  example  of  obedience  to  the  laws.  He  would 
do  nothing  to  embarrass  the  magistracy  of  the  land 
in  the  legitimate  exercise  of  its  authority.  He 
would  frown  upon  sedition  and  rebellion.  He  would 
frown  upon  revenge.  He  would  rebuke  covetous- 
ness,  pride,  ostentation,  dishonesty,  hypocrisy,  false- 
hood and  intolerance.  He  would  instruct  his  disci- 
ples to  love  one  another,  to  shun  all  acrimony  of 
speech,  and  all  malevolence  of  temper;  "not  to 
backbite  with  their  tongues,  nor  take  up  a  reproach 
against  their  neighbor,"  He  would  say  to  them. 
"Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them 
which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute  you."  He 
would  everywhere  exhibit  a  meek,  patient,  forgiv- 
ing, benevolent  spirit.  He  would  do  good  to  all 
who  came  within  his  reach.  He  would  exhort 
others  to  the  practice  of  forbearance,  moderation, 
and  charitv.     He  ^\ould  render  to  Csesar  the  thin£:s 


22 

which  are  Ceesar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that  are 
God's.  He  would  do  his  utmost  to  diffuse  a  spirit 
of  love  and  kindness,  and  to  make  His  own  blessed 
Gospel  the  ruling  power  in  all  our  affairs,  civil  and 
military,  social  and  ecclesiastical. 

I  will  not  mock  you  by  stopping  to  prove  that 
this  is  the  sort  of  life  our  Saviour  would  lead  if  he 
were  here  in  person.  Every  Christian  must  know 
this.  And  we  know  just  as  well  that  we  are  bound 
to  imitate  His  example.  It  is  as  much  our  duty  as 
it  would  be  His  to  cultivate  the  spirit  that  has  been 
described.  And  if  this  were  done ;  if  that  great  body 
of  Christians  who  claim  to  have  been  sprinkled  with 
His  blood  and  baptized  into  His  spirit,  should  begin 
thus  to  live  up,  in  some  good  degree,  to  their  pro- 
fession, and  to  follow  him  in  earnest,  what  a  "heal- 
ing" power  would  it  exert  upon  the  wounds  of  our 
suffering  country.  How  much  would  it  mitigate 
the  horrors  of  this  contest.  How  certainly  would  it 
bring  down,  as  a  choice  blessing  upon  our  rulers, 
new  supplies  of  the  wisdom  and  the  fortitude,  the 
integrity  and  the  prudence,  the  forbearance  and  the 
courage,  which  they  need  in  the  discharge  of  their 
arduous  and  responsible  duties.  How  effectually 
would  it  replace  the  uncharitableness  and  the  dis- 
cord, the  aversions  and  the  divisions,  which  prevail 
among    ourselves,    with    candor,    conciliation,    and 


23 

unanimity.  With  what  silent  energy  would  it  act 
upon  the  public  press,  upon  the  courts  and  legisla- 
tures, and  upon  the  whole  tone  of  the  country. 
How  surely  would  it  tell  even  upon  the  misguided 
hosts  that  are  waging  this  criminal  war  against  the 
Government.  In  a  word,  with  what  confidence 
might  we  hail  it  as  the  harbinger  of  some  decisive 
interposition  of  a  benign  Providence  which  should 
arrest  this  sanguinary  strife,  constrain  the  revolted 
States  to  lay  down  their  arms,  and  secure  to  us  a 
wise,  equitable,  and  permanent  peace. 

Here,  my  Brethren,  is  the  remedy  for  our  dis- 
orders which  the  Bible  offers  us.  There  is  no  lack 
of  catholicons.  They  are  tendered  by  political  par- 
ties and  by  individuals,  by  men  in  power  and  by  men 
out  of  power,  every  day.  The  pulpits  of  the  land 
overflow  with  them.  We  need  not  stop  to  compare 
r  to  sift  them ;  to  inquire  what  they  may  comprise 
of  truth  and  wisdom,  and  what  of  error  and  folly. 
Whatever  may  be  done  or  left  undone,  one  thing  is 
certain:  our  deliverance  must  come  from  God,  And 
the  surest  pledge  and   instrument  of  it,  would  be 

A  GENERAL  REVIVAL  THROUGHOUT  THE  LAND  OF  THE 
SPIRIT    AND    PRACTICE    OF    TRUE    RELIGION.      There    is 

more  to  be  hoped  for  from  the  Church  of  Christ  than 
from  Cabinets  and  armies ;  for  armies  and  Cabinets 
will  properly  fulfil  their  mission  only  as  the  Church 


24 

fulfils  tier's.  Let  the  Church  shake  herself  from  the 
dust,  and  come  out  from  the  world,  and  seek  a  fresh 
baptism  of  the  spirit  of  love  and  holiness,  and  give 
herself  anew  to  her  heavenly  vocation,  and  cry  with- 
out ceasing,  on  behalf  of  an  humbled  and  penitent 
people,  "  Heal  us,  O  Lord,  and  we  shall  be  healed ; 
Save  us,  and  we  shall  be  saved  ;"  and  when  another 
Thanksgiving  Day  returns,  our  Sanctuaries  will  re- 
sound with  the  grateful  anthem :  "  Glory  to  God  in 
the  highest ;  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward 

MEN," 


THE    PEACE-MAKERS. 


A    SERMON 


PREACHED    IN    THE     TENTH    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,    PHILADELPHIA,    ON 

SUNDAY,     APRIL    9,     1865,     APPOINTED     BY     THE     GOVERNOR     OF 

PENNSYLVANIA    AS    A   DAY    OF    THANKSGIVING    FOR    THE 

RECENT   VICTORIES   OF   THE   NATIONAL   FORCES 

IN   VIRGINIA. 


HENRY  A.   BOARDMAN,   D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

JAMES    S.    CLAXTON, 

SUCCESSOR  TO  WILLIAM  S.  &  ALFRED  MARTIEN, 

No.  606  Chestnut  Street. 

1865. 


PHlLiDELPHiA,  May  8,  1S65. 

To  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.  D. 
Rev.  and  Dear  Sir — You  will  confer  a  favor  on  us,  if  j'ou  will  permit  the  publication  of 

the  Discourse  delivered  by  you  in  your  church  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  ult. 
We  think  that  its  publication  at  this  time  will  be  useful. 
Very  truly  and  respectfully, 

R.  C.  QRIER, 
JAMES  TUOMPSON, 
R.  PATTERSON, 
D.  HAYES  AGNEW, 
JAMES  SCnOTT, 
W.  C.  PATTERSON, 
JAMES  ROSS  SNOWDEN, 
WM.  A.  PORTER, 
WM.  B.  HIESKELL, 
JOSEPH  PATTERSON, 
THEODORE  CDYLER, 
H.  L.  SPROAT, 
HENRY  McKAY, 
ROBERT  H.  McGRATH, 
SAMUEL  HOOD. 


PniLACELPHiA,  May  9,  1865. 
Genikmen — Your  kind  note  has  taken  me  by  surprise.  The  sermon  for  which  you  ask, 
was  a  sermon  of  THANKSGivixa.  In  less  than  a  week  after  it  was  preached,  our  thanks- 
givings were  turned  into  mourning.  In  the  presence  of  our  great  national  calamity — one 
of  the  greatest,  in  my  opinion,  which  could  have  befallen  our  country — might  it  not  be 
deemed  unseasonable  to  publish  a  discourse  prepared  for  so  widely  different  an  occasion? 
Your  request  shows  that  you  do  not  think  so.  And  if  I  defer  to  your  judgment,  it  will 
be  {inter  alia)  because  of  the  absolute  assurance  I  feel,  that  the  aim  and  spirit  and  counsels 
of  this  sermon  are  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  sentiments  daily  expressed  by  our  de- 
ceased President  during  the  closing  weeks  of  his  life.  There  was  nothing  his  heart  was  so 
much  set  upon,  as  the  early  and  thorough  pacification  of  the  country;  and  the  magnani- 
mous temper  in  which  he  had  set  about  it,  was  hailed  by  the  nation  at  large  as  a  pledge 
that  he  would  omit  nothing  which  might  contribute  to  this  beneficent  result.  Even  then, 
however,  a  true  peace  could  have  been  established  only  through  the  benign  influence  of 
our  holy  religion.  This  was  the  radical  idea  of  the  sermon  you  desire  to  publish,  and 
which  I  herewith  place  in  your  hands.  The  subject  is  presented  in  these  pages  in  a  very 
partial  and  cursory  way.  Believing  as  I  do  that  it  is  the  grand  necessity  of  our  times,  I 
hope  in  a  few  days  to  invite  you  to  a  further  and  fuller  consideration  of  it. 
With  respect  and  esteem,  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

HENRY  A    BOARDMAN. 
To  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Griee, 

Hon.  James  Thompson,  and  others. 


SERMON. 


Matthew  v.  9. 


BLESSED     ARE     THE     PEACE-MAKERS  :     FOR     THEY    SHALL    BE     CALLED    THE 
CHILDREN    OP     GOD. 

On  the  last  Sabbath  your  attention  was  called  to 
one  of  this  rich  cluster  of  "Beatitudes;"  and  it 
now  falls  in  my  way  to  speak  to  you  of  another. 
To  some  of  you,  the  theme  may  present  itself  as  in 
strange  contrast  with  the  scenes  through  .which  we 
are  passing;  while  others  may  regard  it  rather  as 
blending  with  these  scenes  and  foreshadowing  the 
issue  to  which  they  are  tending.  In  either  case, 
the  reflection  will  be  apt  to  force  itself  upon  you, 
How  immutable  is  the  word  ot  God!  The  uni- 
versal law  of  earth,  is  change.  With  individuals, 
families,  states,  dynasties,  there  is  nothing  uniform, 
nothing  permanent.  Mutability  attaches  to  all  the 
works  of  man,  even  the  most  stable.  Opinions, 
philosophies,  policies,  are  perpetually  varying.  The 
Bible  alone   is   unchangeable.      Events    make    no 


6  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

impression  upon  it.  It  imbibes  no  coloring  from 
surrounding  objects.  It  sways  not  an  iota  to  the 
tides  of  human  interest  and  passion.  The  turbulent 
billows  of  strife  and  violence  break  over  it ;  but  it 
stands  firm  like  a  granite  rock  amidst  the  waves 
of  the  sea.  In  cloud  and  in  sunshine,  in  peace 
and  in  war,  it  speaks  in  the  same  calm,  clear, 
authoritative  tone,  uttering  the  same  immortal 
truths,  and  challenging,  under  penalty  of  anathema, 
the  paramount  and  reverential  attention  of  every 
human  being.  For  "the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth 
forever." 

If  this  be  so,  then  there  can  be  no  real  incon- 
gruity between  the  benediction  before  us,  and  the 
times  which  are  passing  over  us ;  that  is  to  say, 
this  benediction,  true  at  all  times,  must  be  true 
now  ;  and,  suited  to  all  seasons,  must  be  suited  to 
the  present.     "  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers,  for 

THEY  SHALL  BE  CALLED  THE  CHILDREN  OF  GOD." 

I  would  not  have  you  infer  from  these  remarks 
that  I  design  to  treat  this  passage  exclusively  in 
its  adaptation  to  our  public  affairs.  This  is  not 
my  purpose :  albeit  I  shall  not  decline  that  use  of 
it  altogether.  It  has  a  lesson  for  all  periods  and 
for  all  persons. 

The  crowd  that  first  listened  to  these  words  was 
composed  of   Jews.     They  were   imbued  with    an 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  7 

hereditary  enmity  to  the  Gentiles.  They  were 
expecting  their  Messiah,  whenever  he  came,  to 
lead  them  forth  against  their  pagan  oppressors. 
The  wrongs  of  centuries  were  to  be  redressed,  and 
all  nations  to  kiss  the  sceptre  of  David.  But  a 
widely  different  doctrine  was  that  which  now  saluted 
their  ears;  one  which  rebuked  no  less  the  revengeful 
passions  of  the  multitude,  than  the  pride  and  hypoc- 
risy of  their  ecclesiastical  teachers.  Their  Messiah 
had  come.  And,  true  to  his  prophetic  character,  he 
came  as  the  "Prince  of  Peace."  But  it  was  not 
such  a  peace  as  they  coveted,  nor  to  be  achieved  in 
their  way. 

"  Blessed  are  the  Peace-makers."  Who  are  the 
Peace-makers ;  and  the  blessing  pronounced  upon 
them: — these  are  the  points  which  invite  our  notice. 
I  shall  treat  them  in  a  very  familiar  and  informal 
way. 

It  has  just  been  intimated  that  the  Messiah  came 
to  establish  a  kingdom  of  peace.  His  grand  design 
was  to  restore  peace  between  God  and  man.  And 
in  doing  this,  he  laid  the  foundation  for  peace  of 
conscience,  and  peace  between  man  and  man.  It  is 
only  one  branch  of  this  fruitful  subject  that  is  men- 
tioned in  the  text.  But  it  is  apparent  that  he  who 
would  be  a  peace-maker  must  be  a  man  of  a  peaceful 
spirit.     He  must  love   peace;    love  it,  not   simply 


8  THE    PEACE-MAKERS. 

because  it  is  commanded,  but  because  it  is  riirlit  in 
itself.  It  must  have  an  attraction  for  him.  His 
heart  must  be  in  sympathy  with  it.  And  it  will  be, 
if  he  has  drank  in  freely  of  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel. 
For  the  essence  of  the  Gospel  is,  "  On  earth  peace, 
good-will  towards  men.'*  This  was  the  substance 
of  the  Saviour's  preaching;  this  the  tenor  of  his 
example;  this  the  end  for  which  he  endured  the 
cross.  And  this  is  the  proper  evidence  and  badge 
of  discipleship.  It  ought  to  be  assumed  as  a  matter 
of  course,  that  a  Christian  is  a  man  of  peace. 

Such  a  man  will  try  to  live  at  peace  with  others. 
The  exhortation  is,  "Follow  peace  with  all  men." 
^^ Follow''''  it;  though  the  same  apostle  elsewhere 
intimates  thp,t  it  may  not  be  always  attainable.  "If 
it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lietli  in  you,  live  peace- 
ably with  all  men."  I  may  notice  this  limitation 
hereafter.  For  the  present,  there  are  certain  things 
looking  in  the  direction  of  peace,  which  are  "  pos- 
sible," and,  therefore,  are  obligatory.  One  of  these, 
is  to  exercise  great  care  about  giving  offence. 

To  "follow  peace,"  we  must  "follow  after  the 
things  which  make  for  peace."  He  fails  in  this, 
who  neglects  to  set  a  close  watch  upon  his  lips. 
"  He  that  hath  a  perverse  tongue  falleth  into  mis- 
chief." "Whoso  keepeth  his  mouth  and  his  tongue, 
keepeth  his  soul  from  troubles."     "A  froward  man 


THE  PEACE-MAKERS.  9 

soweth  strife,  and  a  whisperer  separatetli  chief 
friends."  Not  to  guard  one's  speech,  is  to  contemn 
"the  things  which  make  for  peace."  That  the  peace 
should  be  so  often  broken,  can  excite  no  surprise, 
when  it  is  considered  how  much  rash  talking  there 
is;  how  much  malicious  talking;  how  much  thought- 
less talking.  Offence  must  needs  be  given :  there 
is  no  help  for  it — where  the  tongue  is  under  no 
restraint. 

A  peaceable  man  will  be  heedful  of  the  fe7Jipe}'s 
and  circumstances  of  the  persons  he  has  to  deal 
with.  We  might  wish  it  otherwise,  but  the  world 
is  very  full  of  people  with  untoward  peculiarities. 
In  the  course  of  a  single  day  you  may  encounter 
such  varieties  as  the  morose,  the  officious,  the 
desponding,  the  deceitful,  the  suspicious,  the  irrita- 
ble, the  revengeful,  the  capricious,  and  the  prying. 
Many  whose  dispositions  are  really  amiable,  are 
afflicted  with  very  unamiahle  nerves,  which  grate 
harsh  music  both  for  themselves  and  others.  And 
there  are  a  very  few  only,  who  are  entirely  exempt 
from  moods  which  make  them  unduly  sensitive  to 
inadvertent  affronts  or  slights. 

To  consider  these  infirmities,  is  one  of  the  cha- 
racteristics of  a  man  of  peace.  Not  that  they  are 
all  of  a  nature  to  merit  his  forbearance.  But  in 
general  he  will  keep  in  mind  the  temper  and  mood 


10  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

of  the  persons  he  meets;  and  show  their  weaknesses 
as  much  indulgence  as  a  good  conscience  will 
permit.  To  play  upon  people's  weaknesses;  to  tease 
them  because  they  can  be  teased;  and  incense  them 
because  they  are  passionate;  and  mortify  them  be- 
cause they  are  vain;  and  cajole  them  because  they  are 
suspicious; — this  may  sometimes  afford  an  evanescent 
satisfaction,  but  it  is  a  malicious  satisfaction.  No 
Peace-maker  could  countenance  it.  Such  an  one  will 
find  no  pleasure  in  helping  to  make  others  unhappy, 
even  though  their  own  tempers  be  chiefly  responsible 
for  it.  A  humane  man  will  not  lightly  apply  a  match 
to  a  magazine:  there  are  too  many  incendiaries  about 
already.  He  will  much  sooner  stretch  forth  his  hand 
to  shield  the  train  than  fire  it. 

But  we  cannot  enter  into  details.  Let  it  suffice, 
that  a  man  of  peace  will  endeavor  to  give  his  neigh- 
bor no  just  ground  of  ofi'ence.  And,  reciprocally,  he 
will  be  slow  to  take  ofi'ence.  This  imports  that  he 
will  guard  against  such  infirmities  of  temper  as  those 
we  have  been  speaking  of.  We  may  insist  upon  the 
duty  of  treating  them  with  a  generous  forbearance. 
But  what  right  have  you  to  cherish  them'?  Why 
should  you  be  so  sensitive — so  jealous — so  petulant — 
so  churlish — so  obstinate — so  uncharitable?  No  one 
can  deny  that  these  are  very  unchristian  tempers. 
They  cause  a  large  part  of  the  heartburnings,  the 


THE  PEACE-MAKERS.  11 

alienations,  the  contentions,  that  occur  among  men. 
It  is  as  much  our  duty  to  be  slow  in  taking  offence, 
as  to  be  cautious  about  giving  offence.  A  Peace- 
maker will  respect  the. obligation  in  both  its  aspects. 

But  we  may  "  suffer  wrongfully" — where  we  have 
neither  been  over-sensitive  to  affronts,  nor  done 
aught  to  provoke  an  injury.  This,  unfortunately,  is 
a  common  case.  It  is  a  sore  trial  to  flesh  and  blood. 
Nature  cannot  well  cope  with  it.  But  grace  will 
come  to  the  rescue.  A  Christian  in  these  circum- 
stances may  take  the  needful  steps  to  vindicate  his 
character;  for  he  cannot  but  feel  keenly  the  injustice 
that  is  done  him.  But  if  he  be  animated  by  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  he  will  stifle  the  promptings  of  revenge;  and 
try  to  overcome  evil  with  good.  For  so  his  Master 
taught,  both  by  precept  and  example.  Why  should 
any  Christian  marvel  that  he  suffers  from  the  tongue 
of  calumny,  when  he  recalls  the  history  of  his  Lord'? 

If  these  observations  be  well-founded,  they  show 
that  men  become  Peace-makers  in  just  so  far  as  they 
imbibe  the  spirit  of  genuine  religion.  They  have  an 
essentially  peaceful  temper.  Their  principles,  their 
teachings,  their  aims,  their  conduct,  all  go  to  pro- 
mote peace.  They  carry  with  them  a  silent  but  im- 
pressive remonstrance  against  the  dispositions  and 
practices  which  tend  to  produce  strife.  Their  lives 
are  a  rebuke  to  the  malevolent  passions  which  agi- 


12  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

tate  the  masses'.  Cautious  about  giving  or  taking 
offence,  where  they  have  a  difference  with  others, 
they  are  forward  in  seeking  to  have  it  removed. 
They  are  willing  to  accept  the  Saviour's  rule  as  it 
stands,  "If  thou  rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath 
aught  against  thee  ....  go  and  be  reconciled  to  thy 
brother."  It  may  cost  a  struggle  to  do  this;  for 
pride  and  passion  would  hold  them  back.  But  it 
would  be  a  harder  struggle  not  to  do  it.  They 
cannot  sleep  with  a  quiet  conscience,  until  they  have 
taken  all  suitable  measures  to  win  back  an  alienated 
brother.  If  the  effort  fails,  as  it  may,  they  can  only 
leave  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  God.  The  sin  lies 
not  at  their  door. 

In  the  same  temper  they  strive  to  compose  divi- 
sions among  others.  These  divisions  frequently 
originate  in  some  trifling  incident — a  hasty  word;  an 
oversight;  the  tattle  of  a  busy-body;  at  most,  a  mis- 
apprehension. As  regards  Christians,  it  would  be 
safe  to  assert  that  nine-tenths  of  the  estrangements 
which  occur  among  them,  grow  out  of  some  misap- 
prehension. When  the  mischief  has  once  taken 
place,  they  lack  the  humility  or  the  resolution  to 
seek  an  explanation;  and  so  the  trouble  grows,  as 
neglected  weeds  always  grow,  until  the  insignificant 
thorn-bush  becomes  a  brawny  Upas.  What  they 
need  now  is  a  Peace-maker — some   discreet,  large- 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  13. 

hearted  Christian,  to  mediate  between  them.  And 
with  such  a  days-man,  how  many  alienated  friends 
have  been  restored  to  each  others  arms. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  these  observations, 
that  peace — our  own  or  that  of  others — is  to  be 
sought  at  all  hazards,  and  at  any  sacrifice.  It  is  a 
blessing  of  very  great  value;  but  we  must  not  sacri- 
fice things  of  still  greater  value  to  secure  it.  The 
apostle  glances  at  this  in  the  expression  already 
quoted,  "If  it  be  possible,  live  peaceably  with  all 
men."  It  is  not  always  "possible."  For  we  must 
heed  the  voice  of  duty.  We  must  follow  wherever 
truth  and  right  lead  the  way.  And  this  will  some- 
times expose  us  to  obloquy  and  contention.  It  was 
in  this  view,  our  Saviour  said,  "  I  came  not  to  send 
peace  on  earth,  but  a  sword ;"  and  he  goes  on  to  pre- 
dict the  bitter  feuds  which  the  gospel  would  occasion 
in  households.  But  would  any  one  say,  that  Christ 
was  not  the  Friend  of  peace?  or  that  he  should  have 
suppressed  His  doctrines,  because  he  foresaw  that  bad 
men  would  make  them  a  pretext  for  assailing  his  dis- 
ciples? We  are  not  to  shrink  from  duty,  even 
though  it  may  offend  those  whom  it  would  grieve  us 
to  offend.  A  good  conscience  in  forming  our 
opinions,  and,  on  all  proper  occasions,  asserting  them, 
must  be  preserved  at  whatever  cost  in  respect  to  our 
friendships,  or  our  social  and  professional  advantages. 


14  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

While  this  maxim  is  of  general  obligation,  it  ap- 
plies with  peculiar  force  to  religious  convictions. 
Christianity  is  a  religion  of  peace;  but  it  is  still 
more  a  religion  of  truth  and  holiness, — these  in  order 
to  that.  "  The  wisdom  which  is  from  above  is  first 
pure,  then  peaceable."  To  hold  back  the  truth,  as 
the  pulpit  has  so  often  done,  may  promote  peace; 
but  it  will  be  the  treacherous  calm  which  precedes 
shipwreck.  Neither  as  ministers  nor  as  private 
Christians,  may  we  fail  to  declare  what  we  believe 
to  be  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  Times  and  modes 
are  to  be  regarded.  And  we  must  be  mindful  of  the 
tone  and  temper  of  our  own  hearts.  But  firmly, 
prudently,  charitably,  and  faithfully,  we  must  set 
forth  the  truth.  If  this  lead  to  disputation,  it  will 
be  no  fault  of  our's.  Jesus  Christ  was  of  old,  and  he 
is  still,  "a  stumbling-block  to  the  Jew,  and  to  the 
Greek  foolishness."  Are  his  friends  answerable  for 
the  dissensions  which  may  follow  the-  preaching  of 
Christ  crucified'?  Is  it  they  who  disturb  the  peace 
of  the  Church]  Far  from  it.  It  is  the  formalists, 
who  will  not  endure  the  truth.  It  is  the  bigots,  who 
arrogate  a  monopoly  of  the  truth,  and  hand  over  all 
"who  are  outside  of  their  own  narrow  pale  to  "un- 
covenanted  mercy."  It  is  the  teeming  tribes  of 
errorists,  with  and  without  their  sectarian  organiza- 
tions, who  reject   the   Bible   or   deny  some  of  its 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  15 

essential  doctrines.  These  all  are,  in  their  measure, 
responsible  for  the  discord  that  prevails  in  the  reli- 
gious world.  Very  desirable  it  is  to  allay  this  strife : 
it  is  the  standing  opprobrium  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
But  it  may  not  be  allayed  at  the  cost  of  the  truth. 
The  truth  is  not  our's  to  barter  away.  And  if  bar- 
tered, it  would  fail  of  its  end.  For  there  is  no  real 
peace  except  through  the  truth.  And  the  only  Peace- 
makers entitled  to  the  benediction  of  the  Saviour, 
are  those  who  "buy  the  truth  and  sell  it  not;"  who 
will,  if  needful,  "  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints;"  and  who  will  diligently  use 
the  word  of  God  to  win  back  an  offended  brother,  to 
reconcile  divided  friends,  and  to  replace  the  harsh 
polemics  of  the  Church  with  Christian  love  and  con- 
cord. 

But  there  is  still  another  sphere  for  the  sympathy 
and  care  of  the  Peace-makers,  which  you  will  not 
expect  me  to  pass  by  in  silence.  It  is  too  broad  a 
subject  to  be  discussed  within  the  brief  limits 
allotted  to  the  remainder  of  this  service :  but  a  few 
thoughts  may  be  thrown  out  for  your  consideration. 

The  Peace-makers  are  the  true,  spiritual  disciples 
of  Christ.  They  are  in  and  of  the  Church.  They 
represent  the  Church.  As  a  matter  of  order,  then, 
we  may  refer  to  them  in  the  aggregate,  and  consider 
the  Church  in  its  character  of  Pacificator.     That 


16  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

this  is  its  proper  character,  no  one  will  deny  who 
has  ever  read  the  New  Testament. 

"What,  then — to  come  at  once  to  the  question  that 
lies  just  now  in  every  one's  bosom — is  the  true 
function  of  the  Church  in  respect  to  war  ? 

I  answer,  its  function  is  threefold : 

(1.)  If  possible,  to  prevent  war. 

(2.)  If  this  be  unavoidable,  to  attemper  and  miti- 
gate it. 

And  (3.)  to  do  whatever  may  be  lawful  and  right, 
to  hring  ivar  to  an  end,  and  to  restore  a  just,  humane, 
and  Christian  peace. 

1.  The  Church  is,  if  possible,  to  prevent  war. 
This  is  involved  in  its  nature  and  design.  Its  mis- 
sion, like  that  of  its  Divine  Founder,  is  to  deliver 
men  from  sin ;  and  to  fill  the  earth  with  holiness 
and  happiness.  It  must  needs,  then,  discountenance 
war.  For  war  brings  in  its  train  every  form  of  sin 
and  every  type  of  sorrow.  There  is,  perhaps,  no 
word  in  human  language  of  such  comprehensive  and 
fatal  significance;  none  which  comprises  such  an 
accumulation  of  wrong  and  suffering.  That  Chris- 
tianity should  be  opposed  to  war,  is  a  thing  of 
course.  Many  readers  of  the  New  Testament  un- 
derstand it  as  forbidding  even  defensive  war;  and 
that,  under  any  circumstances.  Nearly  four  years 
ago  I  gave  you  the  reasons  why  I  could  not  acquiesce 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  1  i 

in  that  view.  But,  assuredly,  all  the  teachings  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  the  whole  tone  and  genius 
of  Christianity,  are  adverse  to  any  war  unless  it  be 
strictly  defensive.  If  its  lessons  were  universally 
received,  war  would  be  an  impossible  thing, — the 
more  so,  as  it  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  evil, 
by  subduing  the  passions  in  which  war  usually 
originates. 

Whether  the  Church  did  its  whole  duty  in  trying 
to  prevent  the  war  which  has  desolated  our  country, 
will  be  a  question  for  the  historian.  And  yet,  need 
we  await  his  decision  1  Is  it  not  patent  to  all  the 
world,  that  if  Christianity  had  had  its  just  ascend- 
ancy amongst  us,  this  conflict  would  have  been 
averted'?  Had  the  pulpit  and  the  (so-called)  re- 
ligious press.  North  and  South,  to  name  no  other 
agencies,  steadfastly  inculcated  those  great  lessons 
of  obedience  to  law  and  magistracy,  of  truth  and 
justice,  of  humanity  and  kindness,  of  forbearance 
and  conciliation,  which  belong  to  the  rudiments  of 
the  Scripture  morality,  this  contest  could  never 
have  happened.  The  land  would  have  been  saved 
this  great  crime  of  rebellion,  and  the  untold  horrors 
it  has  brought  with  it.  That  topic,  however,  is  not 
before  us,  except  in  an  incidental  way. 

2.  When  war  actually  exists,  it  devolves  upon  the 
Church, — composed  as  it  is  of  those  who  are  by 
2 


18  THE  PEACE-MAKERS. 

profession   Peace-makers,  to   do   all  that  it  can   to 
limit  and  mitigate  its  evils. 

The  inherent  tendency  of  war  is  to  barbarity. 
Unleashing  as  it  does  the  strongest  passions  of  the 
human  heart,  and  setting  men  to  destroy  each  other, 
it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at,  that  uncivilized 
tribes  should  conduct  their  wars  less  like  men  than 
fiends.  It  must  be  claimed  on  behalf  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  that  it  has  greatly  modified  the  ferocity 
of  war.  Many  of  its  worst  devices  are  professedly 
abandoned  by  Christian  nations :  and  if  practised, 
are  practised  in  derogation  of  the  recognized  code 
of  Christendom. 

It  will  be  readily  admitted,  too,  that  the  Church 
has  not  been ,  idle  during  this  unhappy  contest  in 
our  country.  Its  noble  activity  in  providing  sup- 
plies and  contributing  to  the  comfort  of  the  sick 
and  wounded,  friends  and  foes  alike,  has  elicited  the 
merited  applause  of  the  civilized  world.  It  is  a 
sublime  triumph  of  the  beneficent  spirit  of  the 
Gospel,  this  ministration  of  mercy,  on  a  colossal 
scale,  to  the  sufferers  of  the  war.  Here,  at  least, 
hate  has  given  place  to  love ;  and  the  Peace-maker 
has  found  his  congenial  task,  in  binding  up  the 
wounds  of  combatants  struck  down  by  each  other's 
hands. 

Yet  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  show,  that  there 


THE  PEACE-MAKERS.  19 

are  grave  omissions  and  even  transgressions  to  be 
laid  to  the  account  of  the  Church,  as  well  during 
the  progress  of  the  war  as  before  it  commenced. 
Let  this  topic  be  waived,  however,  for  one  that  is 
more  grateful. 

3.  It  was  specified  as  another  function  of  the 
Church,  to  exert  its  influence  in  hringing  war  to  an 
end,  and  establishing  a  Just  and  stable  peace. 

It  is  not  to  attempt  this  by  arraying  itself  against 
the  State.  Civil  government  is  a  Divine  ordinance. 
It  is  this  which  makes  rebellion  not  simply  a  politi- 
cal offence,  but  a  sin  against  God.  And  all  factious 
opposition  to  government  bears  the  taint  of  crimin- 
ality. The  State  is,  within  its  legitimate  sphere, 
entitled  to  the  moral  support  of  the  Church ;  pre- 
cisely as  the  Church  may  claim  the  protection  of  the 
State.  In  respect  to  particular  measures  or  magis- 
trates, it  is  the  privilege  (in  a  free  commonwealth) 
and  may  be  the  duty,  of  the  citizen,  to  seek  by  the 
use  of  the  prescribed  means,  to  bring  about  a  change. 
But  he  may  do  nothing,  especially  in  the  presence 
of  a  great  rebellion,  wilfully  to  embarrass  the 
government  in  re-establishing  its  authority.  His 
obligation  as  a  Peace-maker  binds  him  to  promote 
whatever  measures  may  be  best  adapted  to  insure 
an  early  and  righteous  peace.  And  it  certainly 
requires  of  him,  that  he  be  importunate  in  pleading 


20  THE    PEACE-MAKERS. 

with  the  "  God  of  peace"  on  behalf  of  his  afflicted 
country. 

These  obvious  principles  have  been  recognized, 
though  not  to  their  full  extent,  in  the  conflict  from 
which  we  seem  at  length  to  be  emerging.  The 
peace  for  which  so  many  prayers  have  gone  up  to 
God,  and  so  many  anxious  hearts  have  been  yearn- 
ing, appears  to  be  dawning  upon  us.  The  honoured 
Chief  Magistrate  of  our  Commonwealth  (who,  as  I 
learn,  has  just  gone  on  another  of  his  visits  of 
sympathy  to  our  wounded  soldiers  in  Richmond*), 
has  invited  the  people  to  unite  this  day  "  in  render- 
ing thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  all  his  mercies,  and 
especially  for  that  he  hath  been  graciously  pleased 
to  look  favorably  on  us,  and  make  us  the  instru- 
ments to  establish  the  right,  to  vindicate  the  prin- 
ciples of  free  government,  and  to  prove  the  certainty 
of  Divine  justice." 

The  response  to  this  appeal  will  be  general  and 
cordial.  Not  only  in  this  State,  but  throughout  all 
the  free  States,  the  voice  of  praise  and  gratitude 
will  resound  to-day.  On  thousands  of  altars  will 
sacrifices  of  thanksgiving  be  offered  to  the  God  of 
our  fathers.    There  is  cause  for  thanksgiving.    Four 

*  Governor  Curtiu's  generous  concern  for  the  sick  and  wounded  Penn- 
sylvania soldiers  throughout  the  whole  war,  have  won  for  him  the  lasting 
gratitude  of  our  Commonwealth. 


THE  PEACE-MAKERS.  21 

years  ago,  on  the  Sabbath  after  the  attack  upon  Fort 
Sumter,*  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  address  you  in  this 
place.  May  I  be  allowed  to  quote  a  few  sentences 
from  the  sermon  delivered  on  that  occasion — a  ser- 
mon which  (as  I  find)  contains  no  thought  nor  word 
1  should  care  to  alter  to-day.  "As  yet  we  only  feel 
the  spray  of  the  billows  breaking  at  our  feet.  But 
the  storm  is  raging  off  the  shore,  and  the  tide  is 
swelling,  and  it  threatens  to  pour  itself  before  long 
in  fury  over  the  land.  It  is  not  for  man  to  say 
whether  it  shall  be  arrested.  ...  ft  may  not  accord 
with  the  Divine  plan  that  we  should  escape  this 
conflict.  But  we  may  plead  with  Him  that  if  war 
must  come,  it  may  be  shorn  of  those  atrocities  which 
are  the  proverbial  characteristic  of  civil  wars.  We 
may  further  plead  with  Him,  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy 
end.  It  is  horrible  that  there  should  be  war  at  all : 
a  protracted  war  among  brethren  would  embosom 
all  the  curses  which  have  followed  in  the  train  of 
sin.  No  tongue  may  attempt  to  depict,  no  imagina- 
tion to  conceive  of  its  horrors.  Let  us  pray  that  its 
time  may  be  short." 

These  prophetic  apprehensions  have  all  been  re- 
alized. The  war  came.  Instead  of  ending  in  a  few 
weeks  or  months,  it  has  lasted  four  years.  And  as 
to  its  "horrors,"  they  have  even  exceeded  all  that 

«  April  21,  1861. 


22  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

was  then  predicted.  What  occasion  can  there  be  to 
recount  them"?  Have  they  not  been  the  burden  of 
our  daily  journals;  of  our  public  assemblies;  of 
every  social  gathering ;  of  all  households,  and  of  all 
hearts'?  Is  there  any  family  that  has  not  been  made 
sick  and  sad  in  rehearsing  the  calamities  of  this 
war'?  Is  there  any  congregation  where  its  thunder- 
bolts have  not  fallen,  and  laid  the  brave,  the  true- 
hearted,  the  loved  and  honored,  in  the  dust  1  Four 
years  of  fratricidal  strife!  Four  years  of  carnage! 
Four  years  of  prisons  and  hospitals  and  graves! 
Four  years  of  ever  accumulating  v/idowhood  and 
orphanage! 

Oh,  beloved,  while  we  mingle  our  tears  with  the 
mourners,  we  have  cause  for  thanksgiving  to-day. 
We  must  and  will  rejoice  that  the  citadel  of  this 
great  revolt  is  .conquered,  and  its  power  broken. 
We  must  and  will  be  thankful  to  God,  that  the  sys- 
tem of  servitude  which  nurtured  the  passions  that 
inspired  the  rebellion,  is  passing  away.  That  it 
must  fall,  became  apparent  on  the  morning  of  the 
12th  of  April,  1861.  The  first  gun  fired  at  Sum- 
ter was  its  death-knell.  How  it  was  to  be  brought 
about,  it  was  not  for  man  to  say:  but  there  were 
those  who  felt  (as  I  certainly  did)  that  the  issue  was 
then  and  there  determined. 

In  a  published  sermon  preached  here  fifteen  years 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  23 

ago,  it  was  said:  "  I  have  never  set  myself  to  defend 
slavery;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  never  will.  I 
concur  in  the  estimate  which  is  put  upon  it  by  the 
people  of  the  North,  and  by  tens  of  thousands  of  our 
Southern  countrymen,  that  it  is  a  colossal  evil;  and 
that  no  consummation  is  more  devoutly  to  be  wished 
and  prayed  for  than  its  removal."  And  now  its 
"  removal"  has  come.  Not  in  a  way  which  any  one 
then  living  could  have  anticipated.  Not  in  the  way 
which  many  amongst  us  believed  would  be  the 
wisest  and  best  way — either  for  the  master  or  the 
slave,  for  the  government  or  the  people.  But  the  vast 
stream  of  Providence  rolls  on  regardless  of  men's  plans 
and  opinions;  and  he  who  will  not  yield  to  the  cur- 
rent, must  be  swept  away  by  it.  God's  purpose  is 
accomplished.  The  African  race  is  emancipated;  and 
the  land  redeemed  from  the  taint  of  slavery.  For  this 
let  us  offer  our  thanksgivings  to  God.  But  if  there 
should  be  thoughtful  Christian  men  who  "rejoice 
with  trembling,"  let  your  charity  bear  with  their 
weakness.  They  only  wait  to  see  the  result  of  this 
stupendous  revolution.  The  abrupt  and  violent  en- 
franchisement of  four  millions  of  ignorant  slaves,  is 
an  event  to  which  history  supplies  but  one  parallel. 
That  transaction  was  under  immediate  and  palpable 
supernatural  direction:  and  even  then  it  cost  forty 
years  of  painful  discipline,  and  the  lives  of  an  entire 


24  THE   PEACE-MAKERS. 

generation  to  bring  the  vast  scheme  to  a  successful 
issue.  Let  us  pray  that  the  Pillar  of  cloud  and  of 
lire  may  reappear  for  our  guidance.  If  it  should, 
and  we  have  grace  to  follow  it,  this  will  prove  a  glo- 
rious deliverance  for  both  races.  But  if  we  are  left 
to  the  counsels  of  a  mere  mortal  wisdom,  it  may  one 
day  turn  the  rejoicing  of  the  land  into  mourning. 
It  is  both  our  duty  and  our  privilege  to  hope  for  an 
auspicious  result — auspicious  for  the  black  race, 
auspicious  for  the  white  race,  auspicious  for  our 
country,  and  for  our  common  Christianity. 

But  to  avert  the  evils  which  may  still  threaten  us, 
and  secure  the  advantages  that  may  be  within  our 
reach,  we  must  invoke  an  agency  which  the  wisdom 
of  this  world  has  sometimes  held  in  light  esteem. 
"  Blessed  are  the  Peace-makers  !"  It  is  the  pro- 
vince of  the  government  to  enforce  the  laws,  to  sup- 
press insurrection,  to  bring  back  revolted  States  to 
their  allegiance,  and  to  reestablish  the  authority  of 
the  Constitution  throughout  all  the  land.  So  dear 
are  these  objects  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  that 
they  have  counted  no  sacrifice  too  great  for  the 
accomplishment  of  them.  They  have  surrendered 
freely  their  property,  their  business,  their  domestic 
ties.  They  have  poured  out  their  life's  blood  like 
water.  And  in  our  thanksgivings  to-day  we  may 
not  forget,  that,  under  God,  we  owe  the  redemption 


THE  PEACE-MAKERS.  25 

of  our  imperilled  heritage  to  the  patriotism  and 
courage,  the  skill  and  endurance,  the  toils  and  suf- 
ferings, of  our  army  and  navy.  Thanks  be  to  God 
for  the  favor  with  which  he  has  crowned  them,  and 
for  the  events  we  chronicle  to-day. 

But  when  the  government  has  finished  its  task, 
and  the  sword  is  sheathed,  and  the  turmoil  of  war  is 
hushed,  there  will  remain  a  work  to  be  done  which 
no  statesmanship  nor  valor  can  eifect.  The  arrest  of 
lighting  is  not  peace.  The  only  peace  that  will  avail 
to  us,  is  one  that  penetrates  below  the  surface.  To 
allay  the  resentments  of  this  war,  to  lull  to  sleep  its 
fiery  passions,  to  restore  mutual  respect  and  esteem, 
and  thus  renew  an  actual,  not  a  mere  formal,  Union, 
— here  is  an  achievement  which,  to  any  eye  but  that 
of  faith,  must  seem  impossible  except  as  by  a  sort  of 
miracle.  Whether  it  is  to  be,  is  known  only  to 
Omniscience.     But  our  duty  is  plain. 

The  hour  has  come  for  the  Church  to  prove  her 
loyalty,  not  to  Caesar  simply,  but  to  her  own  and 
Caesar's  Lord  :  to  show  whether  she  has  been  bap- 
tized with  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  or  with  the  spirit  of 
the  world.  A  broad  field  is  before  her;  and  her 
Master  summons  her  to  a  lofty  mission.  Will  she 
call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  the  wrong- 
doers, or  will  she  go  to  them  and  bind  up  their 
wounds'?     Will  she  climb  to  the  top  of  Gerizim  with 


26  THE    PEACE-MAKERS. 

her  mouth  filled  with  blessings;  or  will  she  stand 
upon  Ebal  and  utter  curses  from  the  rising  of  the 
sun  to  the  going  down  thereof]  Some  who  not  only 
claim  to  be  her  sons  but  minister  at  her  altars,  have 
within  the  past  week  made  the  air  ring  with  male- 
dictions which  took  the  thoughts  irresistibly  to  that 
scene,  where  a  guiltless  sufferer  cried  with  his  last 
breath,  "Father,  forgive  them:  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do !"  One  cannot  but  believe  that  if  He 
had  been  present  on  an  occasion  of  this  sort,  he 
would  have  turned  to  his  vindictive  followers,  and 
mildly  said,  "  Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye 
are  of:  for  the  Son  of  man  is  not  come  to  destroy 
men's  lives,  but  to  save  them."  Is  there  anything 
in  the  plaudits  of  a  delirious  crowd,  that  could  soothe 
the  pain  of  such  a  rebuke  from  those  lips'? 

We  may  take  a  lesson  even  from  the  rigorous 
economy  of  the  Old  Testament.  When  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin  had  committed  a  grievous  crime,  the  other 
tribes  assembled  a  powerful  army  and  marched 
against  them.  Twice  were  the  allies  defeated,  losing 
in  one  battle  22,000  men,  and  in  the  other  18,000. 
In  the  third  conflict,  they  succeeded.  Benjamin  lost 
25,000  troops.  Only  six  hundred  survived,  and  the 
tribe  seemed  about  to  become  extinct.  What  course 
did  the  other  tribes  adopt"?  The  provocation  they 
had  received,  was  immense:  40,000  of  their  people 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  27 

had  been  slain — enough  to  fill  the  land  with  mourn- 
ing. A  single  blow  would  exterminate  the  small 
remnant  of  the  offending  tribe.  Passion  would  have 
prompted  it.  But  natural  affection,  piety,  and 
patriotism,  forbade.  Instead  of  extirpation,  there 
occurred  a  scene  which  would  have  shed  lustre  even 
upon  the  brightest  epoch  in  the  annals  of  Christianity. 
"The  people  came  to  the  house  of  God,  and  abode 
there  till  even  before  God,  and  lifted  up  their  voices 
and  wept  sore;  and  said,  O  Lord  God  of  Israel,  ivhy 
is  this  come  to  pass  in  Israel,  that  there  should  be  to- 
day one  tribe  lacking  in  Israel?^'  (Judges  xxi.  2,  3.) 
An  injured  and  suffering  nation,  in  the  flush  of  vic- 
tory, while  yet  mourning  their  own  dead,  come 
together  to  weep  over  the  terrible  but  righteous 
retribution  they  had  visited  upon  their  brethren,  and 
to  plead  with  their  covenant  God  to  preserve  the 
tribe  from  extinction.  There  was  a  moral  sublimity 
in  the  spectacle  enough  almost  to  move  a  heart  of 
stone. 

And  what  less  can  we  do'?  Can  there  be  a  Chris- 
tian here  who  is  willing  that  a  tribe  should  die  out 
of  our  Israel '?  God  forbid.  He  has  forbidden  it. 
What  means  this  long  delay  of  victory'?  Why  has 
He  kept  us  waiting  through  these  four  weary  years, 
and  tried  us  with  so  many  reverses  and  sorrows,  if 
not  to  teach  us  a  lesson  of  deep  contrition  for  our 


28  THE    PEACE-MAKERS. 

sins;  to  press  home  upon  our  hearts  the  conviction, 
that  His  controversy  was  no  less  with  us  than  with 
our  brethren;  to  chasten  the  exultation  of  our  day 
of  triumph ;  and  to  bring  us  into  a  state  of  mind  in 
which  we  might  offer  the  petition,  without  invoking 
his  anathema  upon  our  own  souls,  "Forgive  us  our 
trespasses,  as  ive  forgive  those  who  trespass  against 
us'l  He  who  cannot  read  these  lessons,  running 
through  every  page  of  these  mournful  annals,  is 
bHnd. 

I  am  not  speaking,  let  it  be  noted,  of  the  magis- 
tracy of  the  land.  I  meddle  not  with  the  high  ques- 
tions which  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  may 
force  upon  the  attention  of  the  government.  What 
justice  may  demand  at  the  hands  of  our  rulers;  what 
mercy  may  claim;  what  a  sound  policy  may  dictate, — 
these  are  points  which  I  am  content  to  leave  where 
the  Constitution  and  laws  have  lodged  them.  My 
business  as  an  unworthy  minister  of  the  Gospel,  is 
not  with  the  government,  but  with  individuals;  and 
not,  primarily,  with  the  world,  but  with  the  Church. 
I  speak  of  what  concerns  Christian  men  in  their 
private  capacity,  when  I  say  that  it  behooves  them  to 
repress  in  themselves  and  discountenance  in  others 
all  malevolent  feelings.  Let  us  not  mar  the  truth 
and  purity  of  our  thanksgivings  to  God,  by  blending 
with  them  imprecations  upon  our  misguided  country- 


THE   PEACE-MAKERS.  29 

men.  Have  they  not  plucked  down  upon  themselves 
a  ruin  so  awful  that  even  in  the  ends  of  the  earth 
every  one's  ears  that  hears  of  it  shall  tingled  Is  not 
the  whole  South  a  desolation  1  "A  voice  of  waiUng 
is  heard :  '  How  are  we  spoiled !  we  are  greatly  con- 
founded, because  we  have  forsaken  the  land,  because 
our  dwellings  have  cast  us  out.  For  death  is  come 
up  into  our  windows,  and  is  entered  into  our  palaces, 
to  cut  off  the  children  from  without,  and  the  young 
men  from  the  streets !' "  "  All  her  beauty  is  departed : 
her  princes  are  become  like  harts  that  find  no 
pasture,  and  they  are  gone  without  strength,  before 

the   pursuer All  her  people   sigh;    they 

seek  bread:   they  have  given  their  pleasant  things 

for  meat  to  relieve  the  soul The  Lord  hath 

trodden  under  foot  all  my  mighty  men  in  the  midst 
of  me :    He  hath  called  an  assembly  against  me  to 

crush  my  young  men The  young  and  the  old 

lie  on  the  ground  in  the  streets:  my  virgins  and  my 

young  men  are  fallen  by  the  sword I  called 

for  my  lovers,  but  they  deceived  me Behold, 

O  Lord,  fori  am  in  distress:  my  bowels  are  troubled: 
mine  heart  is  turned  within  me ;  for  I  have  griev- 
ously rebelled :  abroad  the  sword  bereaveth :  at  home 
there  is  as  death." 

This  is  the  picture  presented  by  that  once  beauti- 
ful land  to-day.     Superadded  to  poverty  and  want 


30  THE  PEACE-MAKERS 

and  exile  and  wounds,  their  cities  in  ashes  and  their 
homesteads  blighted,  there  can  be  scarcely  a  house 
where  there  is  not  "  one  dead,"  nor  a  heart  that  is  not 
filled  with  anguish.  Is  not  this  enough  1  Can  you 
still  talk  of  vengeance '?  Is  it  for  the  blood-bought 
Church  to  pray  that  these  sufferers  may  be  denied 
the  mercy  of  her  Lord?  Be  it  rather  her  grateful 
office  to  emulate  His  pity;  to  seek  out  and  reclaim 
these  wanderers;  to  heal  these  fatal  antipathies. 
The  field  is  white  to  the  harvest.  Even  here  at  the 
North  the  sweet  charity  of  the  gospel  has  been  trod- 
den under  foot.  Among  all  sects  and  parties  truth, 
candor,  and  Christian  kindness,  have  been  often  sacri- 
ficed to  prejudice  and  intolerance.  Relentless  passion 
has  sundered  the  sacred  bonds  of  brotherhood,  and 
divided  friends,  families,  and  churches.  The  call  is 
urgent.  Let  the  Peace-makers  go  about  their  work. 
There  is  not  one  of  them  who  may  not  do  something 
either  North  or  South,  to  rectify  hurtful  misappre- 
hensions, to  moderate  harsh  judgments,  to  check 
ebullitions  of  rancor,  to  extinguish  animosities,  to 
fan  the  lingering  spark  of  kindness,  to  encourage 
friendly  offices  towards  the  erring,  and  to  difi'use 
the  healing  influence  of  the  Gospel.  Here  is  what 
our  poor  bleeding  country  needs,  the  sure  and  stable 
peace  which  flows  from  the  cross.  "  Christ  is  our 
Peace."     He  must  bestow  it,  or  we  may  despair  of 


\ 


THE    PEACE-MAKERS.  31 

seeing  it.  But  if  He  speak  the  word ;  if  he  simply 
breathe  into  the  hearts  of  his  professing  people  his 
own  meek  and  lowly  temper,  and  send  them  forth 
through  the  land  to  be  Peace-makers  in  deed  as 
well  as  in  name ;  we  may  hope,  that  love  will  achieve 
yet  one  more  triumph  over  hate,  and  merge  even 
these  bitter  national  enmities  in  a  sacred  and  lasting 
concord. 

For  those  who  engage  in  this  heaven-born  work, 
there  is  a  "blessing"  provided,  the  grandeur  of  which 
no  tongue  may  describe.  "  Blessed  are  the  Peace- 
makers; for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of 
God."  Blessed — for  the  temper  that  animates  them 
carries  a  blessing  with  it  which  is  sweeter  than  the 
plaudits  of  an  admiring  world.  Blessed — for  God 
is  the  Great  Peace-maker;  and  this  Spirit,  which 
no  one  inherits  but  from  Him,  proves  them  to  be 
His  "children."  Blessed — because,  "if  children, 
then  heirs;  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with 
Christ  !"  Here  is  a  domain  as  wide  as  the  universe 
— as  lasting  as  eternity.  It  belongs  to  the  Peace- 
makers.   Choose  ye,  whether  ye  will  have  part  in  it. 


THE  PEACE  AVE  NEED, 

AND  HOW  TO  SECURE  IT. 


A  SERMON 


PREACHED     IN     THE    TE^fTH     PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH,    PHILADELPHIA,    ON 
THE    DAY    OF    NATIONAL    HUMILIATION,    JUNE    1,    18G5. 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

JAMES   S.    CLAXTON, 

SUCCESSOR  TO  WILLIAM  S.  &  ALFRED  MARTIEN, 

No.  60G  Chestnut  Street. 

1865. 


PHitADELPHiA,  June  2, 1865. 
To  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.D.,  Pastor  Tenth  Presbyterian  Church. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir — Feeling  assured  that  much  good  would  result  from  a  dissemination 
of  the  sentiments  contained  in  your  sermon  delivered  June  1st,  the  day  set  apart  as  one  of 
"  Humiliation  and  Prayer"  by  the  President,  we  respectfully  request  that  you  furnish  a 
eopy  for  publication. 

Truly  your  friends, 

ISAAC  R.  SMITH, 
JAMES  THOMPSON, 
THOMAS  A.  SCOTT, 

D.  HAYES  AGNEW,      ' 
JOHN  STEWART, 

E.  P.  BORDEN, 

A.  LODDON  SNOWDEN, 
J.  B.  ROSS. 
JOHN  DICKSON, 
JAMES  SCHOTT, 
BENJ.  MARSHALL, 
J.  SHIPLEY  NEWLIN, 
H.  W.  PITKIN. 


Philadelphia,  June  5, 1865. 
Gentlemen — My  sermon  of  Thursday,  was  the  proper  and  promised  sequel  to  that  on 
the  "  Peace- Makers,'^  published  a  week  or  two  ago.    It  gratifies  me  to  know  that  you  think 
the  sentiments  of  the  discourse  suited  to  the  present  crisis;  and  I  cheerfully  commit  the 
manuscript  to  your  disposal. 

I  am,  very  sincerely,  your  friend  and  Pastor, 

HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN. 
To  Isaac  R.  Smith,  Esq., 

Hon.  James  Thompson,  and  others. 


THE    PEACE   ¥E    NEED 


Ephesians  ii.  14. 

FOR    HE    IS    OUR    PEACE    WHO    HATH    MADE    BOTH    ONE,    AND    HATH    BROKEX 
DOWN   THE    MIDDLE    WALL    OF    PARTITION   BETWEEN    US. 

What  can  we  do  for  our  country'?  This  question 
lies  upon  every  heart.  And  the  feeling  will  be,  that 
no  day  could  be  more  suitable  for  the  consideration 
of  it  than  the  present.  We  are  called,  it  is  true,  to 
mourning;  summoned,  in  the  fitting  words  of  our 
President,  "  to  humble  ourselves  before  Almighty 
God,"  and  to  pray  that  our  recent  "bereavement 
may  be  sanctified  to  the  nation."  Of  the  greatness 
of  this  bereavement;  of  the  character  and  services  of 
our  departed  Chief  Magistrate;  of  the  inscrutable 
purpose  of  that  Providence  which  permitted  him  to 
die,  and  that  by  an  assassin's  hand,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  the  rebellion  was  tottering  to  its  fall,  and 
all  his  powers  were  absorbed  in  devising  wise  and 
generous  plans  for  the  early  pacification  of  the  coun- 
try; of  these  and  their  kindred  topics,  I  have  already 


b  THE   PEACE    WE    NEED. 

spoken  to  you.  They  have  been  the  theme  of  three 
formal  religious  services  in  this  house:  and  nothing 
has  been  omitted  which  could  testify  our  mutual 
respect  for  the  memory  of  the  dead;  and  our  pro- 
found sense  of  the  solemnity  with  which  God  is 
addressing  us  in  this  awful  and  mysterious  visita- 
tion. It  will  be  quite  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
these  past  observances,  if  we  dedicate  this  day  to 
the  cause  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  sacrificed  his  life. 
From  the  hour  Richmond  fell,  to  the  evening  of  his 
foul  murder,  the  one  thought  which  engrossed  his 
mind,  was,  "  How  can  we  best  secure  a  just  and 
stable  peace"?"  It  appears  to  me  that  we  can  pay  no 
better  tribute  to  his  memory,  than  by  taking  up  this 
question,  or  its  fair  equivalent,  "  What  can  we  do 
for  our  country"?"  and  carefully  weighing  it  in  its 
bearing  upon  our  personal  duty. 

The  country  will  need  the  help  of  all  its  faithful 
<jhildren.  We  have  been  tried  by  four  years  of  war. 
In  no  spirit  of  boasting,  but  with  humble  gratitude 
to  God,  we  may  claim,  that  the  nation  has  borne 
this  fiery  ordeal  better  than  could  have  been  ex- 
pected. Our  government  has  withstood  the  shock 
of  this  mighty  rebellion.  Vast  as  has  been  the  ex- 
penditure of  men  and  means,  our  resources  are  not 
exhausted.  We  emerge  from  the  sanguinary  con- 
flict, not  defeated  and  dismembered,  but  still  one 


THE  PEACE   WE   NEED.  1 

people,  under  one  government,  and  with  an  un- 
divided country.  For  these  priceless  blessings  let 
us  offer  our  thanksgivings  to  God.  But  let  it  not 
be  supposed  that  our  work  is  done.  We  simply  ex- 
change one  course  of  discipline  for  another.  The 
return  of  peace  will  bring  its  tiials  not  less  certainly 
than  the  progress  of  the  war. 

With  nations,  as  with  individuals,  success  is  a 
severe  crucible  to  character.  But  this  is  a  small 
part  of  the  test  to  which  we  are  to  be  subjected. 
The  principles  involved  in  this  war,  are  those  which 
lie  at  the  very  foundations  of  our  government. 
Some  of  these  have  been  decisively  and,  as  we  may 
hope,  permanently  settled.  But  others  which  have 
been  evoked  in  the  course  of  the  contest,  are  still  in 
controversy  among  the  ablest  and  most  patriotic 
friends  of  the  Union.  Still  further,  every  great  civil 
war,  our  own  among  them,  gives  birth  to  numerous 
questions  among  the  most  intricate  upon  which  any 
government  can  be  called  to  pass — questions  of  jus- 
tice and  mercy,  of  amnesty  and  indemnity,  of  recon- 
struction, of  confiscation,  of  local  military  rule,  and 
the  like;  in  our  case,  multiplied  and  complicated 
by  the  unique  and  delicate  relations  of  the  Federal 
and  State  charters. 

It  is  still  more  to  our  present  purpose,  to  advert 
to  the  desolations  caused  by  the  war:  the  immense 


8  THE    PEACE   WE    NEED. 

regions  devastated ;  the  breaking  up  of  churches,  and 
schools,  and  courts  of  justice;  and  the  unavoidable 
demoralization  incident  to  such  a  contest.  Then 
there  are  the  perils  inseparable  from  the  disbanding 
of  large  armies.  There  are  questions  concerning 
asylums  and  hospitals  for  the  thousands  of  brave 
men  who  have  suffered  in  defence  of  the  country. 
There  are  the  many  difficult  problems  growing  out 
of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  And  above  all,  there  are 
the  sorrows  and  the  passions  of  the  war;  its  bereave- 
ments, its  wrongs,  its  estrangements,  its  implacable 
animosities. 

All  these  things  are  before  us.  They  may  suffice 
(without  enlarging  the  details,)  to  show  something 
of  the  greatness  and  difficulty  of  the  task  devolved 
upon  us.  I  do  not  say  that  the  prospect  should 
intimidate  or  discourage  us.  I  do  not  feel  this. 
He  who  has  been  with  us  in  six  troubles,  in  seven 
will  not  forsake  us.  But  we  must  not  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  realities  of  our  condition.  We  are  not  to 
indulge  the  pleasant  conceit  that  because,  through 
God's  blessing,  the  rebellion  is  subdued  and  the 
land  purged  of  the  taint  of  slavery,  our  trials  are  at 
an  end  and  our  work  finished.  Let  us,  rather,  look 
at  things  as  they  are.  Let  us  without  fear  and 
without    passion    survey   the    new   field   which   is 


THE   PEACE    WE    NEED.  V 

opened  to  us,  and   gird  ourselves  for  its  high  de- 
mands. 

A  lofty  mission  it  is  that  invites  our  efforts.     To 
heal    our   country's   wounds;    to  repair   its   desola- 
tions ;  to  soothe  its  sorrows ;  to  allay  its  enmities  ; 
to  replace   prejudice,    discord,   and   confusion,  with 
candor,  respect,   and  kindness ;    and  to  resuscitate 
the  various  agencies,  moral  and  material,  which  may 
cement  the  Union,  and  renew  its  prosperity; — this 
is  the  sublime  task  which  invites  the  generous  co- 
operation of  all  lovers  of  their  country.     Its  diffi- 
culty is  conceded.     But  there  is  a  power — and  only 
one — by  which  it  can  be  accomplished.     It  is  the 
power  named  in  the  text — the  religion  of  Christ: 
"For  He  is  our  Peace  who  hath  made  both  one, 
and  hath  broken  down  the  middle  wall  of  partition 
between  us."     That  solid  and  towering  wall  had  for 
fifteen   centuries    separated    the    two    races.     The 
numerous  assaults  made  upon  it,  were  as  abortive  as 
javelins  hurled  against  an  armored  vessel.     It  was 
invincible    to    force.     Argument    recoiled   from    it. 
Time,  which  changes  all  things,  only  strengthened 
its  buttresses    and   enlarged   its    towers.     Alike   in 
prosperity  and  adversity,  as  a  conqueror  in  Jerusa- 
lem and  a  captive  in  Babylon,  as  the  lord  of  the 
Canaanite  and  the    slave  of  the    Roman,  the  Jew 
ceased  not  to  despise  the  Gentile,  as  the  Gentile, 


10  THE   PEACE   WE   NEED. 

also,  continued  to  hate  the  Jew.  But  there  was  One 
greater  than  Jew  or  Gentile  who  appeared  among 
them,  and  died  a  malefactor's  death.  And,  won- 
derful to  relate,  they  who,  agreeing  in  nothing 
else,  struck  hands  to  crucify  Him,  as  they  stood 
before  His  cross,  felt  their  mutual  enmity  turn  to 
love.  The  middle  wall  of  partition  between  them 
fell  down  at  His  presence;  the  estrangements  of 
centuries  disappeared;  and  they  mingled  together 
as  one  fold  under  one  Shepherd. 

Here  is  hope  for  us.  Such  is  the  union  we  need, 
and  such  the  means  by  which  it  can  be  effected. 
One  may  say  this  without  disparaging  the  functions 
of  the  State.  The  rapid  survey  we  have  just  taken 
of  the  condition  of  the  country,  may  suffice  to  show 
the  magnitude  of  the  interests  with  which  the  State 
has  to  deal,  and  the  difficulties  it  must  grapple  with 
in  the  settlement  of  our  affairs.  Into  those  matters 
it  is  not  for  the  pulpit  to  intrude.  Whenever  our 
rulers  need  its  advice  in  disposing  of  purely  political 
questions,  it  is  to  be  presumed  they  will  ask  it. 
Until  then,  it  is  not  very  apparent  how  anything  is 
to  be  gained  to  the  cause  of  public  order  or  public 
virtue,  by  the  pulpit's  undertaking  to  dictate  to  the 
government  what  it  shall  do  in  respect  to  the 
punishment  of  treason,  reconstruction,  the  extension 
of  the  suffrage,  or  any  of  the  kindred  topics  now  so 


THE   PEACE   WE  NEED.  11 

much  agitated.  "\Ve  may  safely  leave  these  ques- 
tions where  the  Constitution  and  laws  have  lodged 
them.  The  disposition  to  bring  them  to  the  bar  of 
the  Church  for  adjudication,  betrays,  it  appears  to 
me,  an  unfortunate  confusion  of  ideas  concerning 
the  respective  spheres  of  the  Church  and  the  State, 
and  must  operate  to  the  prejudice  of  both.  For,  on 
the  one  hand,  it  tends  to  unspiritualize  the  Church; 
and,  on  the  other,  it  envenoms  political  disputes  by 
infusing  into  them  the  proverbial  rancor  of  theolo- 
gical controversy.  There  are  ways  in  which  the 
Church  can  help  the  State;  and  it  may  not  inno- 
cently withhold  its  aid.  Especially  is  it  bound  to 
come  to  its  assistance  in  a  great  national  struggle 
like  that  we  have  witnessed,  and  in  adjusting  the 
abstruse  problems  which  grow  out  of  it.  But  if  it 
mistake  the  means  and  methods  of  relief,  it  may 
sadly  mar  the  work  it  would  promote. 

The  true  way  for  the  Church  to  help  the  State,  is 
to  confine  itself  to  its  own  sphere,  and  do  its  own 
work.  This  is  what  its  Founder  did.  There  were 
grave  political  disputes  pending  at  the  period  of  His 
personal  ministry.  Every  device  was  employed  to 
induce  him  to  take  part  in  them.  He  steadfastly 
refused.  The  apostles,  and  the  ministers  who  suc- 
ceeded them,  followed  in  his  steps.  And  what  was 
the   result!     With    such   persuasive   and    growing 


12  THE   PEACE   WE    NEED. 

power  did  their  teachings  tell  upon  the  State,  that 
in  a  comparatively  brief  space  of  time  the  empire 
exchanged  its  Paganism  for  Christianity.  Is  it  wise, 
or  modest,  or  safe,  to  contemn  our  Saviour's  exam- 
ple in  an  affair  of  such  vital  consequence  to  society, 
to  the  Church,  to  the  whole  world? 

And  why  should  the  Church  wish  to  arrogate 
the  prerogatives  of  the  civil  magistrate  1  Its  re- 
sponsibilities are  weighty  enough  already;  so 
weighty  that  none  of  its  friends  need  ask  to  have 
them  augmented.  Nor  this  alone.  The  mission 
confided  to  the  Christianity  of  the  country,  is  as 
beneficent  as  it  is  arduous.  Such  honor  has  God 
put  upon  it,  that  he  calls  it  to  do  a  work  in  the 
pacification  of  the  country  which  the  State  cannot 
do.  The  grand  object  to  be  attained,  that  which 
underlies  and  pervades  all  the  momentous  issues 
now  agitating  the  public  mind,  is  to  bring  about  a 
general  and  hearty  reconciliation;  to  break  down 
the  wall  of  partition  which  has  long  divided  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  the  barriers  which  may 
separate  other  portions  of  the  people  into  hostile 
factions  or  parties;  and  make  them  all  one,  not  in 
name  merely,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  To  the 
government  it  belongs  to  re-organize  our  political 
system,  and  set  in  motion  its  complex  mechanism. 
The  formal  union  thus  renewed,  may  be  invigorated 


THE   PEACE   WE   NEED.  13 

and  cemented  by  the  wholesome  tendencies  of  com- 
merce, of  education,  and  of  social  intercourse.  But 
these  are  only  co-efficients.  The  true  amalgam  lies 
in  that  potential  influence  which  availed  to  make 
Jew  and  Gentile  "  both  one." 

For  no  other  agency  can  reach  the  seat  of  the 
malady  to  be  cured.  The  ordinary  contests  of 
political  parties  are  sufficiently  virulent;  but  they 
are  nothing  to  the  case  now  before  us.  Here  are 
sectional  jealousies  of  many  years  standing,  inflamed 
by  the  experiences  of  a  protracted  and  bloody  war. 
What  with  the  exultation  of  victory  and  the  chagrin 
of  defeat,  the  losses  and  wrongs  and  desolations  of 
the  contest,  and  the  vast  changes  it  has  wrought  in 
the  social  and  civil  condition  of  the  country  and  in 
the  tone  of  the  nation,  it  were  puerile  to  suppose 
that  the  heart-burnings  and  resentments  of  such  a 
period  can  be  healed  by  any  earthly  specific.  Fear 
or  favor  may  secure  obedience  to  law  and  outward 
tranquillity.  But  these  may  consort  with  implaca- 
ble enmities.  The  advantage  of  Christianity  is,  that 
it  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  evil.  It  goes 
down  into  the  depths  of  the  inner  consciousness. 
It  aims  to  "make  the  tree  good;"  to  cast  its  living 
branch  into  the  bitter  fountain ;  content,  when  this 
is  done,  to  leave  the  fruit  and  the  streams  to  them- 
selves. 


14  THE    PEACE    WE    NEED. 

Other  reformers  have  recognized  the  importance 
of  this,  and  have  essayed  to  accomplish  it.  But 
they  have  uniformly  failed,  and  for  a  common 
reason.  There  is  but  one  Power  in  the  universe 
strong  enough  to  cope  with  the  human  heart ;  and 
they  could  not  command  it.  Christianity  does  com- 
mand it.  The  Gospel  of  Christ  is  God's  appointed 
instrumentality  for  subduing  and  re-moulding  hu- 
man nature.  In  His  hands,  we  are  as  clay  in  the 
hands  of  the  potter.  "Whatever  the  antipathies  and 
hatreds  of  this  war,  we  need  not  distrust  His  power 
to  remove  them.  Grace  has  wrought  marvels  even 
greater  than  this.  We  have  seen  it  in  the  case  of 
the  Jews  and  Gentiles.  It  is  going  forward  at  this 
moment  in  Africa,  in  New  Zealand,  in  Feejee;  where 
men  who  but  yesterday  were  cannibals,  are  to-day  sit- 
ting at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  clothed,  and  in  their  right 
mind.  Nay,  we  have  the  evidence  of  it  much  nearer 
home.  For  who  that  has  had  his  own  enmity  to 
God  turned  into  love,  can  doubt  as  to  the  efficacy 
of  the  Gospel  in  allaying  the  worst  animosities  and 
healing  the  most  pitiless  quarrels  between  man  and 
manl 

The  question,  "Can  the  North  and  the  South 
ever  become  one  again  in  affection  1"  is  heard  on 
every  side.  And  the  negative  answer  it  receives, 
is  natural  enough  to  those  who  regard  it  only  from 


THE   PEACE   WE    NEED.  15 

an  earthly  point  of  view.  But  "  is  anything  too 
hard  for  the  Lord'?"  Hopeless  as  the  task  might 
be  in  any  other  aspect,  it  ceases  to  be  .hopeless  the 
moment  it  is  understood  that  we  may  commit  it  into 
His  hands.  To  do  this  in  good  faith,  is  the  para- 
mount duty  of  the  hour.  It  is  more  than  a  duty. 
It  is  a  great  privilege.  Rarely  has  God  given  to 
the  Christians  of  a  land,  an  opportunity  like  that 
He  now  offers  us.  We  use  no  unguarded  language 
when  we  assert,  that  the  Christians  of  our  country 
have  it  their  power,  by  God's  blessing,  to  bring 
about  that  thorough  pacification  for  which  all  hearts 
are  yearning.  For,  helpless  as  they  are  in  them- 
selves, the  treasure  of  the  Gospel  is  committed  to 
their  keeping,  and  the  Gospel  is  the  wisdom  of  God 
and  the  power  of  God.  It  has  proved  itself  the 
most  potent  influence  concerned  in  the  affairs  of 
the  world, — stronger  than  the  worst  passions  of  the 
heart;  stronger  than  prison  walls;  stronger  than 
armies;  stronger  than  the  might  of  hoary  empires; 
stronger  than  the  Arch-apostate  and  all  his  hosts. 
And  it  has  but  to  be  applied,  to  achieve  an  early 
mastery  over  the  asperities  and  separations  of  this 
war. 

"To  he  applied!''  Here  is  the  point  that  concerns 
us.  On  the  abstract  question  of  the  omnipotent 
energy  of  the  Gospel,  we  must  all  be  agreed.     But 


16  THE   PEACE   WE   NEED. 

is  our  Christianity  equal  to  this  emergency'?  Can 
it  take  in  the  grandeur  and  beneficence  of  the  work 
to  which  it  is  summoned'?  Can  it  rise  above  the 
turmoil  of  earth,  and  address  itself  to  its  work  in 
the  temper  of  its  Master  ?  Allow  that  the  provo- 
cations to  the  exercise  of  an  opposite  temper  are 
very  great :  that  this  rebellion  was  marked  with  a 
flagitious  criminality;  that  it  has  been  attended  with 
appalling  barbarities;  that  the  wrongs  and  sorrows 
it  has  inflicted  upon  the  North,  are  too  deep  and 
too  recent  not  to  be  most  keenly  felt.  Concede,  as 
we  must,  all  this:  does  it,  nevertheless,  annul  the 
obligation  which  rests  upon  us,  to  heed  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ,  and  tread  in  his  steps  ?  The  Chris- 
tianity that  draws  its  inspiration  from  the  world ; 
that  recruits  itself,  not  from  the  word  of  life  and 
the  throne  of  grace,  but  from  the  fury  which  at 
such  crises  inflames  the  passions  of  the  multitude ; 
is  unworthy  of  the  name  it  bears,  and  faithless  to 
its  Lord.  It  is  no  lesson  of  Christianity,  that  we 
extenuate  the  guilt  of  such  a  rebellion,  or  attempt 
to  shield  its  authors  from  merited  punishment,  or 
say  or  do  aught  that  may  embarrass  the  functions 
of  the  government.  It  is  not  at  all  (I  repeat  the 
observation)  with  these  topics  I  am  dealing.  I 
speak  of  our  duty  as  professing  Christians ;  and  of 
the  mission  of  the  Church.     And  I  say,  that  it  is 


THE   PEACE   WE   NEED.  17 

not  for  Christian  men  and  women  to  go  to  the  world 
for  their  .inspiration :  to  adopt  the  principles,  to 
cherish  the  resentments,  and  to  deal  out  the  male- 
dictions common  to  those  who  are  swayed  by  mere 
natural  impulses. 

The  dictate  of  this  earth-born  philosophy,  is, 
"  Beware  how  you  show  kindness  to  those  who  have 
by  word  or  deed  given  the  slightest  countenance  to 
this  rebellion.  No  matter  what  their  surroundings 
at  the  time,  let  none  of  them  ever  again  approach 
you.  Shut  your  doors  upon  them.  Never  speak  to 
them.  Treat  them  to  the  end  as  your  enemies." 
This  is  nature.  And  if  the  Church  is  to  be  leavened 
and  controlled  by  this  spirit,  the  war,  though  ter- 
minated in  form,  must  go  on  indefinitely.  ''When 
will  this  war  end'?"  said  a  friend  to  one  of  the 
bravest  and  noblest  of  our  Major-Generals,  one 
whose  name  is  never  mentioned  by  men  of  any 
section  or  party  bat  with  respect  and  gratitude.* 
"  When  the  nation  is  brought  to  ejcercise  a  j^^nitent 
and  forgiving  spirit.^'  Well  said,  Christian  soldier : 
we  need  not  ask  in  what  school  thou  hast  been 
taught.  Nor  need  we  fear  that  in  the  end,  all  true 
disciples  of  Christ  will  approve  of  this  spirit. 
Amidst  the  scenes  of  horror  and  sadness  which  have 
lately  passed  before  us,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
exasperated  feeling  should  have  driven  even  some 

*  General  Anderson. 


18  THE   PEACE   WE    NEED. 

Christian  men  from  their  moorings.  But  they  are 
tolerably  certain  to  come  back  to  their  anchorage. 
No  one  who  has  had  experience  of  God's  mercy  will 
maintain,  except  under  some  gust  of  passion,  that 
the  priest  and  the  Levite  were  right  in  "  passing  by 
on  the  other  side,"  and  that  the  Samaritan  should 
have  done  the  same.  Such  an  one  may  try  to  argue 
himself  into  the  belief  that  (like  Jonah)  he  "  does 
weir'  to  indulge  a  stern,  unforgiving  spirit.  But 
grace  will  prevail  over  nature,  and  truth  over 
sophistry.  He  cannot  quite  obliterate  from  his 
heart  those  divine  lessons,  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it 
hath  been  said.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  and 
hate  thine  enemy.  But  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your 
enemies;  bless  them  that  curse  you;  do  good  to  them 
that  hate  you;  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefuUy 
use  you  and  persecute  you"  These  words,  enforced 
by  that  most  touching  of  all  prayers,  '•'■  Father,  for- 
give them;  for  they  knoiv  not  what  they  do!"  make 
it  very  hard  for  a  Christian  to  harbor  vindictive 
feelings  even  towards  those  who  may  have  grossly 
wronged  him.  Conscience  will  keep  up  its  latent 
protest.  And  love  will  wrestle  with  hate.  And 
by  and  by  mercy  will  triumph  over  wrath;  and  He 
who  heareth  in  secret,  will  hear  the  relenting 
brother  cry,  "Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge!"     Whenever   this   spirit  comes  to  pervade 


THE   PEACE   \VE   NEED.  19 

the  Church,  the  land  will  soon  be  healed  of  its  deadly 
wounds. 

Do  not  understand  me  as  intimating  by  these  ob- 
servations, that  this  office  of  conciliation  lies  exclu- 
sively at  our  door.  The  obligations  imposed  by  our 
religion,  rest  upon  all  who  bear  the  Christian  name. 
If  I  refer  to  our  own  sins,  it  is  because  the  recog- 
nized object  of  a  day  of  humiliation  is  to  consider 
our  own  sins,  not  those  of  our  neighbors.  If  I  dwell 
upon  our  own  duties,  it  is  for  the  obvious  reason 
that  they  are  our  own.  And  it  were  of  slight  avail! 
to  set  forth  here  the  sins  and  duties  of  people  who 
are  a  thousand  miles  away.  Could  I  make  my  voice 
to  be  heard  at  the  South,  I  should  not  stop  with 
inculcating  these  lessons  of  kindness  and  forbearance 
which  I  am  urging  upon  you.  In  a  great  contest 
like  this,  it  is  not  for  man  to  apportion  among  dif- 
ferent classes,  the  criminality  which  may  attach  to 
each.  But  if  (as  you  have  been  constantly  taught 
from  this  pulpit)  rebellion  against  lawful  govern- 
ment be  a  sin,  then  the  ministers  and  churches  of 
the  South  have  assumed  a  fearful  responsibility  in 
the  part  they  have  acted  in  this  war.  The  impera- 
tive requisition  Christianity  lays  upon  them,  is,  that 
they  repent  of  this  great  iniquity;  and  return  with- 
out delay,  and  counsel  others  to  return,  to  their 
allegiance.     And  assuredly  it  is  for   them,  no  less 


4 
20  THE   PEACE   WE   NEED. 

than  for  ourselves,  to  exercise  charity  towards  their 
brethren:  to  seek  to  renew  the  bonds  of  Christian 
fellowship  which  have  been  so  rudely  sundered:  and 
to  leave  nothing  undone  which  may  help  to  redress 
the  grievous  injuries  inflicted  through  their  agency 
both  upon  the  country  and  upon  the  cause  of  Christ. 
But  our  personal  concern  with  this  matter  is  nearer 
home.  Enough  that  the  whole  land  needs,  and 
must  have,  the  ameliorating  influence  of  pure  and 
undefiled  religion;  and  that  the  necessity  for  it  is 
becoming  more  apparent  every  day.  We  have 
reached  an  epoch  when  we  cannot  dispense  with  it. 
So  radical  are  the  changes  in  our  condition,  occasioned 
by  the  war,  that  we  may  justly  regard  ourselves  as 
entering  upon  a  new  and  pregnant  cycle  in  our 
career.  This  is  clearly  the  popular  sentiment.  It 
meets  us  in  all  our  Journals.  It  is  the  favorite 
common-place  of  political  orators.  It  is  the  burden 
of  our  social  gatherings.  It  is  a  familiar  topic  with 
the  pulpit.  All  eyes  are  bent  towards  the  future; 
and  all  tongues  (or  nearly  all)  are  depicting  the 
career  of  unexampled  triumph  and  splendor  which 
awaits  us.  This  is  not  surprising.  The  resources 
developed  by  the  war,  have  caused  as  much  astonish- 
ment among  ourselves,  as  among  other  nations. 
And  the  feeling  has  sprung  up,  that  a  people  en- 
dowed   with    such   apparently  inexhaustible  means 


THE   PEACE   WE   NEED.  21 

and  capable  of  such  achievements,  may  count  upon 
attaining  a  renown  which  will  pale  the  lustre  of  all 
other  kingdoms.  The  indisputable  fact  in  our  con- 
dition, is,  that  the  various  elements  of  power  per- 
taining to  our  lot,  have  been  stimulated  to  an  intense 
activity.  The  country  is  all  alive.  Alike  in  the 
realms  of  matter  and  of  mind;  in  every  sphere  of 
thought  and  in  every  department  of  labor;  in  litera- 
ture, science,  and  morals;  in  husbandry,  mechanics, 
and  commerce;  no  less  than  in  politics  and  martial 
affairs;  everything  has  acquired,  or  is  acquiring,  a 
momentum  which  cannot  fail  to  work  out  vast 
results  for  good  or  for  ill.  Whether  for  good  or  for 
ill,  is  a  question  of  profound  moment;  and  one  that 
is  likely  to  depend  largely  upon  the  use  to  which  we 
put  our  Christianity.  It  needs  no  Daniel  or  Isaiah 
to  predict  how  far  the  golden  visions  of  our  en- 
thusiasts will  be  realized,  if  with  this  sudden  revival 
of  all  the  secular  agencies  which  shape  the  destinies 
of  nations,  we  miss  a  revival  of  the  spirit  and  prac- 
tice of  true  religion.  There  is  no  other  power 
strong  enough  to  hallow  and  control  these  restless 
elements.  And  by  so  much  as  they  are  whetted 
into  this  unwonted  vigor,  by  thus  much  do  they 
require  to  be  attempered  and  guided  by  the  sacred 
energy  of  the  Gospel. 

The  exigency  which  demands  this  saving  influence 


22  THE   PEACE    WE    NEED. 

is  upon  US  now.  The  transition  from  war  to  peace 
involves  a  severe  trial  of  national  character.  In  our 
case  the  delicacy  and  hazards  of  the  change,  are 
augmented  by  the  nature  of  the  contest  in  which  we 
have  been  engaged,  and  by  the  gigantic  size  of  our 
armies.  Here  are  a  half  million  of  men  (North  and 
South)  to  be  disbanded.  The  principles  and  habits 
they  have  acquired  in  the  garrison  and  the  camp,  are 
to  be  exchanged  for  the  sober  pursuits  of  trade  and 
agriculture.  The  excitement  which  has  formed  so 
large  a  part  of  the  daily  aliment  of  the  country  for 
four  years,  is  to  be  withdrawn.  The  energies  of  the 
nation  are  to  be  trained  into  new  channels,  and 
directed  to  objects  as  foreign  as  possible  from 
marches  and  battles,  and  defeats  and  victories.  Such 
a  revolution  will  tax  the  virtue  of  our  people  as 
severely  as  that  through  which  they  passed  in  so 
abruptly  exchanging  the  plough  and  the  anvil  for 
the  sword  and  the  musket.  We  need  not  distrust 
the  issue.  But  every  one  must  see  that  the  experi- 
ment will  put  a  fresh  strain  upon  our  social  and 
political  system;  and  that  all  the  resources  our 
Christianity  can  command,  will  be  required  to  con- 
duct it  to  a  successful  issue.  This  is  the  only  lever 
by  which  the  country  can  be  let  down  gently  and 
safely  from  a  state  of  war  to  a  state  of  peace. 

This,  however,  is  but  the  first  step.     If  we  would 


THE   PEACE   WE    NEED.  23 

guard  against  disaster  in  the  new  career  upon  which 
we  are  entering,  the  nation  at  large  (as  just  inti- 
mated) must  be  more  thoroughly  impregnated  with 
the  influence  of  genuine  religion.  To  this  benign 
influence  we  may  look  to  work  some  amelioration 
in  our  politics.  Long  before  the  war,  the  tendency 
to  deterioration  in  this  quarter  had  become  too 
glaring  to  be  denied.  Good  men  of  all  parties 
united  in  reprobating  the  acrimony,  the  duplicity, 
and  the  venality,  which  were  carried  into  our  elec- 
tions; as  they  also  deplored  the  prevailing  and 
criminal  indiff'erence  to  politics  among  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  Union.  We 
have  paid  the  penalty  of  these  grave  delinquencies. 
Let  not  the  lesson  be  lost  upon  us.  The  remedy  is 
as  obvious  as  it  is  practicable.  It  lies  not  with  the 
pulpit.  When  the  pulpit  meddles  with  party 
politics,  it  becomes  an  engine  of  mischief.  But  it 
may  and  must  enforce  upon  the  people  the  duty  of 
carrying  into  their  politics  the  truthfulness,  the 
integrity,  and  the  charity,  to  which  they  are  bound 
in  every  other  sphere.  This  is  the  reform  we  need. 
There  is  intelligence,  and  honor,  and  Christian  rec- 
titude enough  in  the  country  to  efi'ect  it.  And 
piety  and  patriotism  alike  demand  that  no  eflbrt 
shall  be  spared  for  accomplishing  it. 

If  I  forbear  to  dwell   upon   the   necessity  of  a 


24  THE   PEACE    WE   NEED. 

revived  Christianity  as  the  only  adequate  counter- 
active to  the  alarming  growth  of  dishonesty  through- 
oat  the  land,  it  is  simply  because  I  have  on  other 
occasions  said  all  that  I  cared  to  say  to  you  on  this 
subject. 

But  there  are  two  phenomena  in  our  condition 
too  vitally  connected  wfth  the  subject  before  us,  to 
be  passed  over  in  silence.  One  of  these,  is  the 
colonizing  of  the  immense  regions  lying  between 
the  Mississippi  river  and  the  Pacific  ocean.  The 
volume  of  emigration  now  pouring  itself  into  those 
regions,  is  without  precedent.  Not  only  are  most 
of  the  existing  Territories  preparing  to  put  on  the 
habiliments  of  States,  but  still  other  States  formed 
out  of  that  broad  area  will  soon  be  knocking  at  our 
door  for  admission  into  the  Union.  There  is  room 
enough  there  for  as  many  separate  commonwealths 
as  were  included  in  the  original  confederation. 
Who  would  have  it  otherwise'?  Let  them  come 
and  welcome — laden  with  their  corn  and  wine  and 
oil,  and  glittering  in  raiment  of  gold  and  silver, 
outvying  the  visions  of  Oriental  fable.  But  to 
make  them  doubly  welcome ;  to  insure  their  coming 
as  an  element  of  strength  and  not  of  weakness  to 
the  Republic;  we  must  see  to  it  that  these  endless 
trains  winding  across  our  Western  prairies,  take  the 
Bible  with   them;    that   the    foundations  of   these 


THE   PEACE    WE   NEED.  25 

new  States  be  laid,  not  upon  slavery,  not  upon 
abstract  and  unsanctified  theories  of  liberty,  not 
upon  mere  prowess  and  enterprise,  but,  in  the  faith 
and  fear  of  God,  upon  the  immutable  principles  of 
his  word.  We  must  see  to  it,  that  the  Church 
and  the  School  pitch  their  tents  beside  every 
encampment,  and  take  possession  of  every  village 
and  hamlet.  And  we  must  never  lose  sight  of  the 
fact,  that  if  these  distant  communities  are  to  be 
clasped  indissolubly  to  the  older  States,  we  must 
not  trust  implicitly  to  charters  and  rail-roads,  but 
superadd  to  these  the  sacred  bonds  which  "  He  who 
is  our  Peace"  will  throw  around  them. 

The  other  topic  referred  to  is  the  anomalous 
condition  of  the  South.  We  cannot  mistake  in 
assuming  that  the  rebellion  has  shattered,  where  it 
has  not  completely  disorganized,  both  the  educa- 
tional and  the  ecclesiastical  systems  in  the  Southern 
and  Border  States.  To  repair  these  ruins;  to 
rebuild  churches  and  school-houses;  to  renew  the 
ordinances  of  the  Sanctuary;  to  disseminate  the 
Scriptures;  and,  generally,  to  sustain  and  diffuse 
the  healthful  influence  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
throughout  those  desolated  regions : — here  is  a  mis- 
sion to  be  undertaken  by  the  Church,  the  importance 
of  which  cannot  be  exaggerated.  But  this  is  only 
a   part  of   the   truth.     Here   are   four   millions   of 


26  THE   PEACE   WE   NEED. 

emancipated  slaves  to  be  cared  for.  Whatever 
diversity  of  sentiment  may  have  existed  in  respect 
to  slavery,  all  v^^ill  agree  as  to  the  gravity  of  the 
problems  springing  out  of  its  abrogation.  Most 
of  these  fall  within  the  purview  of  the  civil 
authority.  Our  concern  as  Christians  with  the 
subject,  is  twofold.  In  some  form,  this  great  mass 
of  ignorant  people  must  be  brought  under  the 
influence  of  a  thorough  religious  training.  This 
is  indispensable  to  themselves,  and  not  less  so  to 
the  white  population.  Without  it,  there  can  be 
neither  tranquillity  nor  safety  for  either  race.  It 
pertains  exclusively  to  the  Christianity  of  the 
country,  to  devise  the  proper  system  or  systems 
for  effecting  this  object.  When  I  say  "  the  Chris- 
tianity of  the  country,"  I  do  not  mean  that  the 
Churches  of  the  Union  are  to  do  this  thing  in 
their  aggregate  capacity,  or  that  they  are  all  to 
take  a  direct  part  in  it.  I  simply  mean  that  it 
is  a  Christian  work,  and  Christians  must  do  it, — 
trusting,  however,  that  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who 
"  makes  both  one,"  and  who  has  now  broken  down 
one  of  the  great  "walls  of  partition"  between  us,  the 
day  may  not  be  distant  when  the  Churches  of  the 
South  and  the  Churches  of  the  North  shall  be  found 
shoulder  to  shoulder  and  heart  to  heart  in  carrying 
it  forward. 

Our  further  concern  with  the  matter  lies  here. 


THE   PEACE   WE    NEED.  27 

The  inherent  difficulty  of  many  of  the  political 
questions  concerning  the  African  race,  soon  to  be 
officially  passed  upon,  is  admitted.  Everything, 
then,  will  depend,  under  God,  upon  the  spirit  in 
which  these  questions  are  approached.  What  the 
emergency  demands  on  the  part  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment, and  especially  on  the  part  of  the  Southern 
people,  their  legislatures,  courts,  and  municipal 
authorities,  is,  preeminently,  a  spirit  of  wisdom,  of 
justice,  and  of  humanity.  There  is  an  urgent  neces- 
sity that  the  whole  social  structure,  South  and 
North,  be  imbued  with  this  temper;  that  so,  the 
great  experiment  may  proceed  upon  righteous  prin- 
ciples, and  result  well  for  both  the  American  and 
the  African,  and  for  our  common  country.  This 
temper  can  emanate  from  only  a  single  source — 
even  from  "  Him  who  is  our  Peace."  That  Divine 
faith  of  which  He  is  equally  the  spring  and  object, 
and  the  burden  of  which  is,  "  peace  on  earth,  good- 
will toward  men,"  must  be  brought  to  bear  in  the 
fulness  of  its  love  and  mercy,  upon  the  magistracy 
of  the  land,  and  upon  our  whole  people.  Let  us 
hope  that  under  its  heavenly  guidance,  the  two  races 
may,  by  God's  blessing,  thread  this  perilous  laby- 
rinth, and  come  forth  at  length  into  a  "  wealthy 
place." 

These    are   merely    specific   illustrations    of    the 
general  truth,  that  the  pervading  iwesence  and  power 


28  THE   PEACE   WE   NEED. 

of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  is  the  grand  necessity/  of  our 
countri/.  In  every  quarter  it  needs  instruction  and 
consolation.  It  needs  to  be  guarded  against  des- 
pondency and  against  presumption.  It  needs  to  be 
purged  of  the  pride  and  vainglory  v^^hich  have 
defaced  its  strength  and  splendor.  It  needs  to  be 
at  peace  v^^ith  God;  that  so  the  peace  to  be  estab- 
lished within  its  borders,  may  be  just  and  pure  and 
lasting.  It  needs  to  be  taught  that  vrithout  the 
Divine  blessing,  the  wisdom  of  our  statesmen,  the 
courage  of  our  armies,  the  skill  and  industry  of  our 
people,  and  our  opulent  resources  of  every  kind, 
will  prove  but  as  chaff  before  the  fire.  It  needs  to 
have  all  classes  and  conditions  of  our  population 
coming  together  once  more  in  a  spirit  of  mutual 
forbearance  and  amity,  and  combining  their  efforts 
to  retrieve  the  ruins  of  the  war  and  renew  our  for- 
mer prosperity.  These  wants  are  universal  and 
pressing.  Wise  legislation,  and  the  proverbial  en- 
ergy of  our  people,  may  do  something  toward  sup- 
plying them.  But  they  are  not  to  be  compassed  by 
any  earth-born  sagacity.  They  make  their  appeal 
to  the  Church  of  God;  to  those  who  having  been 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  Great  Physician  and 
Peace-maker,  can  invoke  His  Omnipotent  grace 
and  His  unerring  wisdom,  to  provide  for  our  neces- 
sities, and  do  for  us  "exceeding  abundantly  above 
all  that  we  ask  or  think." 


THE   PEACE   WE   NEED.  29 

This  is  the  proper  office  of  the  Church.  By  the 
merciful  provision  of  her  Divine  Head,  she  is  set  to 
instruct  the  world;  to  enlighten  its  ignorance,  to 
rectify  its  false  judgments,  to  set  before  it  the  teach- 
ings of  God's  word,  to  assist  it  in  understanding  the 
lessons  of  his  Providence.  Her  mission,  further,  is 
to  keep  alive  in  the  world  a  sense  of  His  supremacy ; 
to  foster  in  men's  minds  a  feeling  of  their  depen- 
dence; to  check  the  ebullitions  of  passion;  to  re- 
press unholy  tempers;  to  strengthen  the  arm  of 
justice;  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness against  all  violence,  treachery,  and  cal- 
umny; and  to  nourish,  as  well  in  nations  as  in 
individuals,  the  habit  of  viewing  God  in  everything, 
and  everything  in  God. 

Such  being  the  nature  and  design  of  the  Church, 
it  is  of  the  last  importance,  that  she  should  not  now 
mistake  her  calling,  nor  decline  the  service  to  which 
the  course  of  events  so  clearly  calls  her.  We  are  all 
looking  with  a  natural  solicitude  to  our  govern- 
ment,— as  we  have  been  for  the  past  four  years,  to 
our  fleets  and  armies.  But  if  the  Scriptures  teach 
any  lesson  adapted  to  our  circumstances,  it  is,  that 
the  future  of  the  country  depends  much  more  upon 
the  Church  than  upon  all  human  agencies  put 
together.  There  is  no  interest  of  earth  so  dear  to 
God  as  his  Church.  It  is  the  only  organization  he 
has  preserved  from  the  beginning.     He  has  founded 


30  THE   PEACE   WE   NEED. 

nations  and  dynasties  without  number,  and  extin- 
guished them.  We  read  history  blindfolded  if  we 
do  not  see,  that  empires  and  governments  are  of 
slight  account  with  him,  except  in  their  relations  to 
that  immortal  kingdom,  which,  like  the  stone  cut  out 
of  the  mountain,  is  to  break  in  pieces  and  destroy 
all  other  kingdoms.  His  eye  is  upon  the  righteous 
of  a  land.  They  it  is  who  "  have  power"  with  him. 
Their  fidelity  to  God  is  the  most  vital  element  of  a 
nation's  prosperity.  And  their  general  defection  is 
always  to  be  marked  as  one  of  the  surest  sources  of 
a  nation's  overthrow. 

These  principles,  familiar  to  every  student  of  the 
Bible,  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  now.  Our  Chris- 
tianity is  on  trial.  The  responsibility  devolved  upon 
it  by  this  solemn  juncture  in  our  aff'airs,  is  great 
beyond  description.  Holding,  as  it  does,  the  only 
balm  that  can  soothe  the  country's  wounds,  and  the 
only  cordial  for  its  sorrows,  it  has  but  to  exert  its 
healing  powers,  and  all  will  be  well.  And  then, 
when  the  day  of  reckoning  comes,  it  shall  have  no 
cause  to  complain  of  the  penury  of  its  reward. 

There  are  those  who  will  deride  this  strain  of 
remark  as  betraying  a  needless'  anxiety  about  our 
future:  who  feel  that  having  triumphed  over  this 
rebellion,  we  can  afford  to  smile  at  all  other  diffi- 
culties. And  undoubtedly  the  goodness  of  God,  in 
bringing  us  successfully  through  the  war,    should 


THE    PEACE    WE    NEED.  31 

make  us  hopeful  as  to  His  favor  hereafter.  We 
may  well  feel  encouraged  as  to  the  final  issue  of 
these  extraordinary  scenes ;  but  only  as  we  trust  in 
"Him  who  is  our  Peace."  Had  our  Christianity 
as  a  nation  been  what  it  should  have  been,  the  rebel- 
lion could  not  have  happened;  and  we  had  been 
spared  these  four  years'  of  bloodshed  and  sorrow. 
We  have  committed  the  fatal  mistake  of  permitting 
our  material  and  political,  to  outstrip  very  far  our 
spiritual,  growth.  To  repeat  the  error  after  this 
terrible  rebuke,  will  be  to  invite  fresh  judgments. 
For  what  are  the  most  powerful  nations  without 
God's  protection,  when  a  miserable  caitiff  may  in  an 
instant  of  time  plunge  twenty  millions  of  people 
into  mourning?  If  we  would  insure  for  ourselves  a 
prosperous  future,  we  must  become  a  more  tho- 
roughly religious  people.  Standing  as  in  the  shadow 
of  that  great  sorrow  which  chills  the  joy  of  return- 
ing peace,  let  us  resolve  to  render  our  country  the 
noblest  service  she  can  receive  from  any  of  her  chil- 
dren, by  doing  everything  in  our  power  to  diffuse 
far  and  wide  the  influence  of  a  pure  Christianity. 
Let  us  do  what  we  can  to  retrieve  the  moral  wastes 
of  the  war;  to  establish  Churches;  to  circulate  the 
Scriptures;  to  sustain  evangelical  Missions.  While 
unfeignedly  thankful  for  the  issue  of  the  late  con- 
test, let  us  testify  our  grateful  appreciation  of  peace, 
by  allowing  the  passions  of  war  to  die  with  the  war. 


32  THE   PEACE    WE   NEED. 

Let  the  love  of  Christ  constrain  us  to  repress  in  our- 
selves, and  discountenance  in  others,  "all  bitterness, 
and  wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamor,  and  evil  speak- 
ing, and  all  malice."  Let  us  carry  into  every  sphere 
of  life  the  forbearance  and  the  charity  which  we 
daily  need  and  daily  experience  at  the  hands  of  our 
Heavenly  Father.  Let  us  invoke  the  special  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  our  President,  who,  acceding  to 
that  high  dignity  under  circumstances  of  such  deep 
solemnity,  has  already  shown  himself  so  worthy  of 
the  cordial  respect  and  confidence  of  the  country. 
Let  us  cease  not  to  intercede  with  God  for  him,  and 
for  all  our  rulers;  that  He  may  shield  them  from 
violence,  sustain  them  under  their  burdens,  and 
endue  them  with  wisdom,  patience,  firmness,  and 
humanity  in  the  discharge  of  their  responsible  duties. 
Let  us  further  commend  to  His  loving  care  the 
mourners  all  over  the  land;  and  plead  with  Him  so 
to  sanctify  our  national  bereavement,  and  all  the 
afflictions  of  the  war,  that  the  nation  may  come  out 
of  this  furnace  purified  as  gold  that  has  been  tried  in 
the  fire.  Thus  shall  we  find  the  promised  Messiah 
to  be  our  Peace:  every  wall  of  partition  will  be 
broken  down;  and  our  restored  civil  Union  will  but 
typify  that  deeper,  holier  union  which  has  made  us 
"ALL  ONE  IN  Christ  Jesus." 


REFORMED    AND    REVIVED 


CHRISTIANITY, 


OUR  COUNTRY'S  GREAT  NECESSITY: 


%  $nm\x 


PREACHED  OK  IIIAMSGIVISC  DAI,  NOVEBEE  28, 1867, 

llN    THE 


BY 

HEIS^RY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    B.    LirPINCOTT    &    CO. 

18GT. 


Prefatory  Kote. 


It  seems  proper  for  me  to  saj,  that  the  request  for  the 
publication  of  this  sermon  has  come  to  me  from  gentlemen 
differing  toto  coelo  in  their  political  sentiments.  The  grateful 
significance  of  this,  is,  that  there  is  a  broad,  common  ground 
upon  which  good  men  of  all  parties  can  meet,  and  concert 
measures  for  the  relief  of  our  distracted  country. 

H.  A.  B. 


S  E  R  )1 0  N. 


OXE  THIN'G  IS  NEEDFUL. —  Luke,  X.  42. 

It  is  a  grateful  service  to  "which  this  Anniversary 
iuA'ites  us.  Our  Day  of  Thanksgiving  has.  happily, 
become  a  National  Festival.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  Chief  Magistrates  of  the  sev- 
eral Commonwealths,  responding  to  the  Christian 
feeling  of  the  country,  propose  a  common  tribute  of 
praise  to  God  in  acknowledgment  of  our  common 
mercies.  Great  cause  for  thankfulness  we  have  in 
that  our  fratricidal  war  has  given  place  to  peace;  in 
our  ample  harvests;  in  the  continued  enjoyment  of 
our  religious  privileges;  in  all  that  has  been  done 
during  the  past  twelve-month  for  the  material  com- 
fort or  moral  improvement  of  any  portion  of  our 
people';  and  for  our  amicable  relations  with  foreign 
nations.  To  enumerate  the  blessings  which  the  year 
has  brought  us  as  individuals  and  families,  and  as  a 
Church  of  Christ,  would  more  than  consume  the  hour 
devoted  to  this  service.  Let  us  gratefully  recognize 
the  bounty  of  our  Father  in  heaven.  Let  us  "praise 
the  Lord  for  His  goodness,  and  for  His  wonderful 
works  to  the  children  of  men."  "He  hath  not  dealt 
with  us  after  our  sins;  nor  rewarded  us  according  to 

(3) 


4  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

our  iniquities."  But  "as  far  as  the  East  is  from  the 
West,  so  far  hath  He  removed  our  transgressions  from 
us."  "Praise  ye  the  Lord.  0  give  thanks  unto  the 
Lord,  for  He  is  goodj  for  His  mercy  endureth  for- 
ever." 

While  on  every  side  we  find  motives  to  thankful- 
ness, we  have  a  deep  stake  in  the  inquirj^ — How  may 
we  so  improve  our  blessings  as  to  insure  a  continu- 
ance of  them?  That  we  have  not  profited  by  them 
as  we  might;  that  we  may  possibly  forfeit  them  in 
the  future;  are  points  upon  which  there  can  be  no 
diversity  of  opinion  here.  The  goodness  of  God  to 
us  as  a  nation,  words  were  poor  to  express.  And 
yet  the  condition  of  our  land  is  far  from  being  an- 
swerable to  the  munificence  of  the  Divine  bounty.  If 
we  do  no  better  in  the  future  than  we  have  in  the 
past,  our  Days  of  Thanksgiving  will  be  apt  to  come 
to  us  shadowed  with  actual  or  impending  judgments. 
This  need  not  be.  It  should  not  be.  The  remedy  is, 
by  God's  mercy,  in  our  own  hands.  "One  thing  is 
NEEDFUL."  We  take  the  friendly  caution  of  our  Sa- 
viour to  the  sisters  of  Bethany,  and  apply  it  to  our 
national  affairs.  The  "one  thing  needful"  to  every 
child  of  man,  is  a  personal  interest  in  the  Mediatorial 
work  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  "one  thing 
needful"  to  our  country,  is  A  reformed  and  revived 
Christianity.  The  bare  statement  of  the  thesis  indi- 
cates its  paramount  importance.  I  shall  offer  no 
apology  for  talking  with  you  in  a  familiar  way  this 
morning,  about  our  country's  great  and  only  need. 

A  single  word  in  the  proposition  just  enunciated 
may  awaken  curiosity.     "A  ^reformed'  Christianity," 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  5 

— why  use  tliis  phrase  when  a  "revived"  Christianity 
covers  the  ground  ?  The  question  deserves  an  an- 
swer. And  the  answer  will  serve  as  part  and  parcel 
of  our  exposition  of  the  country's  great  need.  For 
in  the  term  "country"  is  comprised  the  totality  of  our 
interests — our  social  life,  our  literary  institutions,  our 
politics — as  well  what  pertains  to  the  Church,  as  what 
pertains  to  the  State.  And  it  is  especially  of  the 
Church  we  mean  to  affirm  that  it  needs  a  "reformed" 
Christianity.  It  were  quite  to  the  purpose  to  argue 
this  point,  and  you  will  doubtless  expect  me  to  argue 
it,  upon  the  basis  of  facts  which  have  elicited  large 
discussion  concerning  the  interference  on  the  part 
of  the  pulpit,  and  of  ecclesiastical  Courts  and  Con- 
ventions, "with  questions  of  party-politics.  That  our 
Christianity  has  suffered  almost  irreparably  from  this 
source,  and  greatly  needs  to  be  "  reformed,"  must  be 
apparent  to  every  one  capable  of  reviewing  calmly 
the  events  of  the  last  fifteen,  and  especially  of  the  last 
seven,  ^^ears.  But  it  is  quite  another  aspect  of  the 
subject  w^hich  I  design  to  bring  before  you  to-day. 

The  grand  religious  movement  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  is  known  in  history  as  "  the  Reformation." 
The  Church  had  been  for  ages  deteriorating  in  every 
attribute  of  a  Divine  Institution.  The  primitive 
faith  which  it  received  from  its  Lord,  had  been  mu- 
tilated and  covered  up  by  the  rubbish  of  human  tra- 
ditions. Its  simple  worship  was  transformed  into 
a  gorgeous  ritual.  Preaching,  in  its  legitimate  im- 
port, had  gone  into  utter  desuetude.  And  the  eccle- 
siastical orders  w^ere  given  up  to  frightful  immorali- 
ties.    Through  the  instrumentality  of  Luther  and  his 


6  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

associates,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Church  was, 
in  a  measure,  purged  of  these  abuses,  and  brought 
back  to  its  ancient  faith  and  disciphne.  The  Reform- 
ation was  in  some  countries  tolerably  thorough ;  in 
others  very  imperfect.  In  England,  arrested  midway 
by  the  imperious  will  first  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  then 
of  Elizabeth,  there  was  enough  of  the  old  leaven  left 
to  vex  and  grieve  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  Bishops  of 
that  day,  and  to  work  untold  mischief  since.  Of  late 
years  this  leaven  has  increased  in  virulence.  It  has 
carried  several  hundred  of  the  Established  clergy  back 
into  the  fold  of  Rome,  and  is  now  impressing  upon 
the  entire  structure  an  appreciable  gravitation  toward 
that  centre.  Again  the  English  people  are  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  spectacle  of  undisguised  Roman- 
ism flaunting  itself  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  National 
Church.  Kindred  symptoms  are  revealing  themselves 
(as  yet  only  here  and  there)  on  this  side  of  the  water 
— and  not  confined  to  the  communion  which  derives 
its  organic  being  from  the  Church  of  England.  The 
fatal  taint  has  spread,  or  is  spreading,  through  most 
of  the  branches  of  the  Church,  our  own  included.  Its 
tokens  are  manifold.  But  there  is  one  so  pre-eminent 
as  to  deserve  specific  mention. 

The  present  is  a  musical  age — more  so,  perhaps, 
than  any  other  since  the  Advent.  Music,  then,  has 
become  the  lever  by  which  it  is  essayed  to  enervate 
and  despoil  the  Church.  Heaven  itself  is  full  of 
music.  Music,  therefore,  must  needs  be  an  innocent 
and  rational  amusement.  And  so  thousands  of  good 
Christians  deem  it  quite  proper  to  go  anywhere — no 
matter  with  what  surroundings — where  they  can  hear 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  7 

"good  music."  This  is  one  device,  but  not  the  chief 
one. 

If  there  be  anything  which  the  devil  may  be  pre- 
sumed both  to  hate  and  fear,  it  is  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospeh  For  this  is  the  choice  means  the  Saviour  put 
into  the  hands  of  his  disciples,  for  thwarting  him  and 
all  his  works.  The  early  Christians  understood  this. 
Chrysostom,  Basil,  Gregory  Nyssen,  Augustine,  and 
others,  bear  testimony  to  the  prominence  which  was 
given  to  preacldng  in  their  churches.  Besides  two 
sermons  on  Sundays,  they  sometimes  had  preaching 
every  day;  and  in  some  cases,  two  or  three  sermons 
at  one  session.  Their  ministers  did  not  weary  of 
preaching,  nor  the  people  of  hearing.  If  a  precedent 
is  wanted  for  disparaging  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
and  thrusting  it  into  a  corner  of  the  service  or  a  mere 
parenthesis,  it  must  be  sought  elsewhere  than  in  the 
primitive  Church.  The  whole  voice  of  ecclesiastical 
antiquity  is  against  it. 

Nor  is  their  testimony  less  significant  in  respect  to 
singing.  This  comprised  both  inspired  and  uninspired 
Hymns.  And  in  the  service,  "the  whole  congrega- 
tion bore  a  part,  joining  all  together  in  a  common 
celebration  of  the  praises  of  God."*  Very  early,  how- 
ever, did  mischief  begin  to  come  in  at  this  door. 
Both  Jerome  and  Chrysostom  complain  of  "the  light- 
ness which  some  used  in  singing,  who  took  their 
measures  from  the  mean  and  practice  of  the  tlieatres^ 
introducing  from  thence  ilie  corruption  and  effeminacy 
of  secular  music  into  the  grave  and  solemn  devotions 

*  Cave. 


8  A   REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

of  the  Church."  "Let  young  men  hear  this.  Let 
those  hear  it  who  have  the  office  of  singing  in  the 
Church,  that  they  sing  not  with  their  voice  but  with 
their  heart  to  the  Lord;  not  like  tragedians — singing 
after  the  fashion  of  the  theatre  in  the  Church."  Li 
similar  terms  the  Fathers  complain,  that  "  the  music 
of  the  words  and  the  sweetness  of  the  composure,  were 
more  regarded  than  the  sense  and  meaning  of  them," 
and  that  the  aim  was  "rather  to  please  the  ear  than 
to  raise  the  affections  of  the  soul."* 

Thus  early  was  music  brought  into  play  as  a  means 
of  perverting  and  debasing  public  worship.  With  one 
voice  the  Fathers  resisted  its  abuses,  and  strove  to 
preserve  its  purity,  and  to  keep  it  in  its  place.  In  the 
end,  however,  they  were  foiled.  Music  encroached 
more  and  more  upon  the  customary  ritual;  until  at 
length  the  choir  overpowered  the  pulpit.  For  several 
centuries  preaching  was  practically  suspended.  Paint- 
ing and  bculpture  allied  themselves  with  their  sister 
art.  Vast  cathedrals,  alien  from  the  whole  genius  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  suitable  only  for  pompous 
shows,  took  the  place  of  the  humble  sanctuaries  of 
the  early  believers.  The  Church  by  degrees  ex- 
changed its  spiritual  character,  for  the  functions  and 
trappings  of  a  civil  state.  Christianity  became  a 
mere  political  institute;  and  worship  a  sacrilegious 
ceremonial  in  which  God's  altars  were  used  to  offer 
incense  to  human  pride  and  ambition. 

The  cycles  of  history  return  upon  themselves.  It 
is  not  probable  that  those  who  are  most  concerned 

*  Bingham's  Antiquities,  Book  xiv.  sec.  17-1 D. 


t 


OUR  COUNTRY  S  GREAT  NECESSITY.  V 

will  care  to  look  into  this  mirror,  or  that  the  lesson, 
if  seen,  will  be  heeded.    But  there  the  lesson  is.    The 
process  which  wrought  such  irreparable  evil  in  the 
early  Church,  is  repeating  itself  in  our  day.    Music  is 
again  the  chosen  implement  for  sapping  the  w^alls  of 
Zion  and  defacing  its  beauty.     People  used  to  go  to 
Church  to  worship  God.     This  seems,  on  the  whole, 
to  be  the  Scriptural  idea  of  going  to  Church.     But 
they  are  now  invited  to  the   Sanctuary  to  enjoy  a 
musical  treat;  in  many  cases  to  witness  a  melo-dra- 
matic  performance, — a  sort  of  Sunday  Opera,  mollified, 
indeed,  but  in  full  keeping  with  the  Opera  of  the  other 
six  days.     As  yet  these  are,  with  us,  exceptional  in- 
stances.   But  any  Church  may  grow  to  them  in  time. 
Already  it  has  come  to  be  recognized  in  very  numer- 
ous congregations,  and  confined  to  no  one  sect,  as  an 
indispensable  means  of  what  is  called  "success,"  to 
provide  the  most  artistic  and  elaborate  music.  Churches 
are  not  ashamed  to  compete  with  each  other,  in  hold- 
ing out  inducements  of   this  sort  to  allure  visitors. 
Multitudes  of  young  people,  forsaking  the  pews  where 
they  belong,  are  flitting  about  from  Church  to  Church 
"to  hear  the  music."     This  is  the  acknowledg-ed  mo- 
tive.     They  have  too  much  candor  to  pretend   that 
they  go  to  join  in  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  Sanc- 
tuary, or  to  hear  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.     They 
go  simply  to  be  regaled  with  fine  singing.     This  is  the 
end  they  aim  at;  and  this  the  burden  of  their  report 
when  the  service  is  over.    The  preaching  is  nothing — 
the  less  of  it  (in  their  esteem)  the  better. 

Now  am  I  declaiming  against  the  culture  of  music? 
No.    Am  I  proscribing  musical  exhibitions?    No:  not 

1* 


10  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

in  their  legitimate  place  and  character.  Am  I  dispar- 
aging the  value  of  good  singing  in  the  house  of  God? 
Not  at  all.  There  must  be  a  certain  harmony  between 
the  refinement  and  taste  of  a  congregation,  and  their 
service  of  song,  or  it  will  mar  the  comfort  and  edifica- 
tion of  their  worship.  But  this  is  not  to  justify  or 
extenuate  the  arrogant  and  pernicious  substitution  of 
cunning  music  and  its  kindred  devices,  for  the  author- 
ized exercises  of  the  Lord's  house.  To  intimate  that 
the  practices  reprobated  may  be  telling  upon  the 
whole  cast  of  our  religion,  and  replacing  the  sub- 
stance with  the  shadow,  might  provoke  a  smile.  But 
your  incredulity  may  have  its  solution.  People 
standing  upon  a  drifting  field  of  ice,  miles  in  diam- 
eter, are  not  cognizant  of  its  motion.  Our  Christian- 
ity has  been  so  long  and  so  widely  drifting  from  its 
ancient  moorings,  that  we  have,  possibly,  lost  sight  of 
all  the  land-marks.  A  single  observation  will  suffice 
to  correct  your  reckoning.  Bring  the  Christianity 
now  growing  so  popular  in  our  cities,  to  the  test  of 
the  law  and  the  testimony.  See  whether  it  be  the 
religion  of  Christ  and  the  apostles.  See  whether  its 
worship  and  its  spirit  be  the  spirit  and  worship  of  the 
early  Church.  If  this  inquiry  be  conducted  wdth 
candor,  you  will  be  shut  up  to  the  conclusion,  that  a 
change  is  stealing  over  our  Christianity,  which  seri- 
ously threatens  its  vitality.  The  passion  for  ornate 
music  is  doing  for  the  Church,  what  the  most  subtle 
of  the  mineral  poisons  does  for  the  body.  The  first 
effect  of  arsenic,  in  minute  potions,  is  to  beautify  the 
complexion.  Persevered  in,  the  result  is  asphyxia 
and  death.    Men  are  not  satisfied  with  the  Church  as 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  11 

Christ  made  it  and  pronounced  it,  ''very  good."  They 
must  refine  upon  His  model,  and  array  it  in  other 
vestments,  and  make  it  attractive  to  the  senses,  and 
adjust  it  to  a  "cultivated"  generation.  And  they  are 
too  busy  in  embellishing  its  exterior,  to  note  that 
their  manipuLations  are  poisoning  the  blood,  and 
weakening  the  pulse,  and  extinguishing  its  very  life. 
This,  too,  with  the  inevitable  effects  of  the  treatment 
before  their  eyes.  It  is  the  common  vice  of  empirics 
that  they  never  learn  anything.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, these  people  would  see  that  they  have  only 
taken  up  a  system  of  practice  which  has  been  in 
vogue  for  ages  in  the  Oriental  Churches  and  the 
Church  of  Rome.  Those  Churches  offer  them  satisfac- 
tory exhibitions  of  a  mere  spectacular  Christianity. 
The  methods  they  have  adopted,  if  persisted  in, 
would  in  time  assimilate  any  Protestant  Church  to 
these  Hierarchies.  And  if  they  cannot  or  will  not 
see  it.  the  Christians  of  these  communions  ouo-ht  to 
see  it,  and  put  a  stop  to  this  pestilent  tampering  with 
sacred  thinsrs. 

o 

If  you  cannot  endure  the  simplicity  of  the  New 
Testament  ceremonial;  if  the  central  place  assigned 
by  Christ  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  offend  you; 
if  the  house  of  God  be  in  your  esteem  a  mere  music- 
hall  or  theatre;  and  the  only  worship  you  crave,  be 
an  oratorio  or  a  drama;  why  insist  upon  fashioning 
Protestant  Churches  to  this  style  of  devotion?  If  the 
scheme  be  so  captivating  in  the  bud,  the  full  bloom 
must  be  still  better.  Why  not  go  at  once  to  some 
Romish  Church,  where  you  will  be  certain  to  find  all 
you  are  yearning  for,  without  the  toil,  and  the  delay, 


12  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

and  the  unseemliness  of  attempting  to  effect  this 
transformation  in  Churches  established  to  protest 
against  a  sensuous  religion? 

Here,  then,  is  the  answer  to  the  inquiry,  why  we 
speak  to-day  of  a  ^^ reformed  Christianity"  as  the 
necessity  of  the  times.  The  glory  of  the  Christian 
religion  is  its  spirituality.  Herein  it  is  the  poles 
away  from  any  and  all  of  the  false  religions.  Its 
beauty  and  strength  lie  in  its  holiness.  Its  rites  and 
ordinances  are  but  the  graceful  setting  for  those  sub- 
lime truths  through  which  we  behold  the  King  in 
His  glory.  As  you  enlarge  the  frames,  you  exclude 
the  light,  and  obscure  the  throne  and  Him  who  sits 
upon  it.  In  other  words,  the  whole  moral  power  of 
the  Church  lies  in  its  conformity  to  its  Lord  and 
its  spiritual  communion  with  Him.  This  destroyed, 
it  not  only  becomes  impotent  to  all  the  beneficent 
ends  it  was  designed  to  accomplish,  but  its  mighty 
enginery  is  thenceforward  turned  to  augment  and 
accelerate  the  multitudinous  evil  forces  which  are 
hurrying  men  to  destruction. 

In  pointing  out  the  importance  of  a  reformed  and 
REVIVED  Christianity,  it  seemed  natural  to  begin  with 
the  Church,  since  it  is  through  the  Church  such  a 
Christianity  must  operate  upon  the  country.  Let  us 
now  advert  briefly  to  a  few  other  particulars  in  which 
this  may  be  insisted  upon  as  our  country's  greatest 
need.  The  field  is  quite  too  broad  to  admit  of  more 
than  a  passing  glance  at  two  or  three  leading  points. 

Can  a  nation  govern  itself?  This  is  the  experi- 
ment we  are  trying,  and  have  been  trying  for  eighty 
years.      We   have   been  fond  of   telling   the   world 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  13 

of  our  success.  We  have  somewhat  ostentatiously 
invited  other  nations  to  come  and  see  for  them- 
selves. They  have  pertinaciously  contended  that 
the  problem  had  not  been  fully  worked  out.  And 
at  length  our  pride  has  been  forced  to  concede  that 
they  were  right.  The  experiment  is  still  in  progress 
— with  the  prospect,  however,  of  being  definitely  set- 
tled, for  or  against,  within  the  coming  ten  years. 

One  thing  is  apparent:  no  man  can  "govern  him- 
self" without  the  aid  of  true  religion.  This  will  be 
accepted  as  an  axiom :  to  argue  it  before  a  Chris- 
tian audience  were  a  waste  of  words.  But  a  nation 
is  simply  an  aggregate  of  individuals.  The  self- 
government  which  transcends  the  capacity  of  the 
units,  must  be  equally  impracticable  to  the  organized 
body.  No  nation,  then,  can  govern  itself  wisely  and 
well  without  the  help  of  Christianity.  This  is  obvi- 
ously true  on  the  general  principle  that  nations  are  as 
absolutely  dependent  upon  God  as  individuals — that 
He  disposes  of  them  as  He  sees  fit,  setting  up  and  de- 
throning princes,  and  creating  and  destroying  consti- 
tutions, according  to  His  good  pleasure.  Witness  the 
history  of  the  great  prophetic  Monarchies,  with  the 
recorded  exposition  of  the  Divine  agency  in  their  rise, 
progress,  and  overthrow.  All  history  attests  that 
"  the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men,  and 
giveth  it  to  whomsoever  He  will."  And  it  were  pre- 
sumption in  any  nation  to  count  upon  His  favor, 
while  contesting  His  supremacy  and  spurning  His 
laws. 

But  we  need  not  rest  the  case  here.  We  have  only 
to  look  over  our  country  to  perceive  that  a  pure  and 


14  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

resolute  Christianity  is  the  "one  thing  needful"  to  our 
politics. 

The  existing  condition  of  things  is  eminently  un- 
satisfactory. If  one  may  judge  from  the  public  prints, 
it  satisfies  nobody — not  only  no  political  party,  but 
no  individual  of  any  party.  At  the  end  of  two  and 
a  half  years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  anomaly 
is  presented  of  a  state  of  affairs  which  fails  to  com- 
mand cordial  approval  in  any  quarter.  With  the 
most  diverse  aims  and  plans,  all  are  hoping  and 
striving  for  something  better.  What  is  this  but  a 
universal  admission,  that  up  to  this  period  the  pro- 
blems evolved  out  of  our  bloody  conflict  have  out- 
matched our  wisdom?  The  solution  of  these  questions 
has  engrossed  the  sagacity,  the  experience,  and  the 
patriotism  of  the  nation.  Is  there  not  room  for  the 
suggestion  that  one  thing  more  is  needful,  and  that  we 
have  failed  to  recognize  it  as  we  ought  ?  Our  urgent 
want  is  the  Pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire — the  symbol  of 
the  Divine  Presence,  to  lead  the  way  and  guide  our 
statesmen  through  this  labyrinth.  Were  the  nation 
properly  imbued  with  the  influence  of  true  religion, 
such  united  and  importunate  prayers  would  go  up  to 
the  Mercy-seat,  as  would  insure  for  us  this  and  every 
other  essential  blessing.  Herein  is  a  reformed  and 
revived  Cliristianity,  the  "one  thing  needful"  to  us  in 
our  politics. 

This,  however,  is  a  very  meagre  statement  of  the 
case.  The  fact  which  glares  upon  every  eye  is,  that 
the  temper  in  which  our  vexed  problems  are  discussed, 
is  of  no  wholesome  augury  to  the  country.  One  need 
not  be  alarmed  at  a  little  undue  warmth  in  political 


OUR  couxtry's  great  necessity.  15 

contests :  this  is  common  under  all  free  governments. 
But  with  us  these  controversies  are  eiiyenomed,  first, 
by  the  recollections  of  the  war ;  secondly,  by  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  interests  at  stake;  and  thirdly,  by  the 
admixture  of  an  element  which  has  for  the  past  thirty 
or  forty  years  kept  the  country  in  more  or  less  of  a 
ferment.  To  restrain  the  excitement  incident  to  this 
condition  of  things,  and  give  full  scope  to  the  better 
instincts  of  the  people,  seems  the  proper  function  of 
our  hoh'  religion  ;  and  no  other  agency  is  equal  to  the 
task.  It  were  ground  for  humiliation  to  suppose  that 
the  violence  which  characterizes  a  portion  of  the  daily 
press,  and  the  acrimony  of  our  legislative  debates, 
faithfully  reflect  the  general  feeling  of  the  nation. 
Underlying  these  fierce  surface-convulsions  there  must 
be  a  vast  amount  of  practical  wisdom,  of  instructed 
patriotism,  of  well-poised  moderation,  which  have  failed 
to  make  themselves  properly  felt  in  the  current  agita- 
tions. When  Rome  was  in  a  turmoil,  Cincinnatus  was 
at  his  plough.  Most  of  our  Cincinnati  are  at  their 
ploughs.  Peradventure  in  our  case,  as  in  that  of  Rome, 
some  crisis  may  come  in  which  the  sense  of  public 
danger,  overpowering  all  personal  and  party  senti- 
ments, may  compel  the  nation  to  summon  them  from 
their  retirement,  and  commit  its  affairs  to  their  control. 
To  this  desirable  result  nothing  could  conduce  more 
powerfully  than  the  revival  of  a  genuine  religious 
influence  throughout  the  country.  It  is  the  genius  of 
Christianity  to  array  itself  against  all  injustice  and 
all  wrong;  against  faction,  lawless  ambition,  malevo- 
lence, and  falsehood.  It  is  eminently  the  guardian 
of  private  rights,  and  the  friend  of  public  order.     Al- 


16  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

lowed  its  legitimate  sway,  it  would  insist  upon  intel- 
ligence and  rectitude  as  prime  qualifications  for  the 
magistracy,  of  whatever  grade,  and  infuse  into  our 
politics  the  candor,  the  moderation,  and  the  compre- 
hensive love  of  country  (of  the  whole  country),  which 
are  so  urgently  needed. 

No  one  can  imagine  that  even  in  this  contingency 
— with  the  Christianity  of  the  land  rising  to  a  higher 
level  and  sending  out  its  myriads  of  life-giving  rivu- 
lets into  the  broad  wilderness  of  our  politics — there 
would  be  any  amalgamation  of  parties,  or  any  truce 
to  vehement  conflict  of  opinion.  Such  a  Utopia  be- 
longs only  to  the  land  of  dreams.  But  the  great 
questions  of  the  day  would  be  handled  in  a  very  dif- 
ferent spirit.  If  there  are  factitious  obstacles  devised 
purely  to  thwart  any  rational  settlement  of  our  troubles, 
they  would  be  thrust  aside.  And  people  would  begin 
to  sleep  more  quietly  under  the  expectation  that  the 
country  might  be  at  rest  and  its  complex  machinery 
once  more  in  working  order,  at  no  very  distant 
period. 

I  have  referred  to  the  question  of  the  freedmen.  It 
is  not  foreign  from  the  province  of  the  pulpit  to  affirm 
that  the  aid  of  Christianity  must  be  invoked  if  we 
would  see  this  abstruse  problem  carried  to  a  satisfac- 
tory solution,  either  in  its  civil  or  its  spiritual  aspects. 
The  Providence  of  God  has  cast  these  three  millions 
of  Africans  upon  our  hands,  and  what  is  to  he  done 
with  tliem?  By  what  methods  are  they  to  be  re- 
strained, employed,  educated,  and  elevated? 

The  corresponding  problem  with  which  the  British 
Parliament  had  to  deal,  on  abolishing  slavery  in  Ja- 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  17 

maica,  was  very  simple  as  compared  with  the  question 
devolved  upon  us:  for  the  Africans  were  fewer  in 
number  and  three  thousand  miles  away  from  England. 
Here  they  are  mixed  up  with  our  white  population, 
and  nothing  can  be  done  for  the  one  race  which  will 
not  equally  affect  the  other.  In  the  example  prece- 
dent, the  legislation  of  Great  Britain  has  proved  a 
disastrous  failure.  Notwithstanding  the  favorable  con- 
ditions under  which  her  authority  was  put  forth  and 
the  acclamation  with  which  the  act  was  hailed  by 
the  civilized  world,  it  is  no  longer  denied  by  any  com- 
petent witness,  that  the  experiment  has  proved  utterly 
unsatisfactor}^  It  is  the  recorded  testimony,  not  of 
planters  and  merchants  onl}',  but  of  zealous  mission- 
aries who  have  spent  years  among  them,  that  the  Island 
is  running  to  waste,  and  the  blacks  are  relapsing  into 
barbarism.  Does  this  prove  that  our  experiment  must 
issue  in  the  same  way  ?  By  no  means.  But  it  cer- 
tainly illustrates  the  intrinsic  difficulties  of  the  sub- 
ject. It  proves  that  the  matter  is  one  not  to  be  dis- 
posed of  by  any  summary  legislation  whatever;  but 
to  be  approached  with  caution,  to  be  examined  in  all 
its  vital  relations  with  calmness  and  penetration,  and 
to  be  conducted  throughout  with  the  deliberation  and 
the  kindness  due  to  the  momentous  interests  involved. 
This  is  no  proper  field  for  mere  party  tactics  or  party 
triumphs.  In  the  presence  of  three  millions  of  peo- 
ple, ignorant  and  helpless,  cast  upon  the  nation  as  its 
wards,  and  looking  to  the  superior  race  for  all  that 
may  be  essential  to  their  present  comfort  and  their 
preparation  for  eternity,  it  becomes  partisanship  to 
shut  its   brazen  throat,  and  retire   from  the  arena. 


18  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

What  is  wanted  here  is  not  political  craft,  but  lofty 
statesman shi J)  and  the  philanthropy  which  draws  its 
inspiration  from  the  cross  of  Christ.  The  stake  is  too 
vast  and  too  sacred  to  be  bandied  about  as  an  elec- 
tioneering puppet.  There  are  no  scales  that  can 
weigh  it  except  the  balances  of  the  sanctuary :  and 
the  only  powers,  under  God,  competent  to  deal  with 
it,  are  a  Church  and  a  Magistracy  imbued  with  the 
spirit  and  controlled  by  the  motives  of  our  Divine  re- 
ligion.    In  such  hands  the  freedmen  would  be  safe. 

Suppose,  then,  we  forget,  for  the  moment,  all  party 
issues.  Let  politics  stand  aside.  Leaving  the  pot- 
sherds to  strive  with  the  potsherds  of  the  earth,  we 
may  well  afford,  here,  in  the  house  of  God,  to  look  at 
this  subject  simply  as  Christian  men  animated  by  a 
common  solicitude  for  the  spiritual  well-being  of  the 
African  race.  We  claim  to  be  their  best  friends.  From 
the  day  of  their  emancipation  until  now,  we  have  filled 
the  world's  ear  with  protestations  of  our  regard  for 
them.  We  have  encouraged  them  to  look  to  Northern 
Christians  and  philanthropists  for  all  needful  religious 
instruction  and  counsel.  And  how  far  have  these 
pledges  been  redeemed?  That  the  North  has  estab- 
lished a  considerable  number  of  schools  among  them, 
and  is  sustaining  their  teachers,  is  cheerfully  admitted. 
We  can  bear  testimony,  in  our  own  congregation,  to  at 
least  a  single  instance,  in  which  a  genuine  concern  for 
their  w^elfare  has  found  expression  in  a  noble  gift  for 
the  founding  of  an  academical  institution  in  the  State 
of  North  Carolina,  for  the  training  of  freedmen.  But 
"what  are  these  among  so  many?"  Is  there  any  right- 
minded  man  who  does  not  feel  that  the  aggregate  con- 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  19 

tributions  and  labors  bestowed  upon  this  cause  by  the 
entire  Northern  States,  are  as  unworthy  of  those  States 
as  they  are  inadequate  to  the  object  in  hand?  The 
indisputable  fact  is,  that  only  a  few  thousands  of  the 
colored  people  have  been  reached  by  any  of  these 
agencies,  or  by  all  combined.  It  is  equally  certain 
that  there  are  two  and  a  half  millions  of  them  who 
are  beyond  the  reach  of  every  Christian  agency  but 
one.  Unless  the  Gospel  is  given  them  by  the  Soutli- 
eni  Cliurclies,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
they  will  live  and  die  without  it. 

Whatever  may  be  alleged  to  the  contrary,  there  is 
no  lack  of  disposition  on  the  part  of  those  Churches 
to  do  this  work.  They  are  doing  it  to  the  extent  of 
their  ability, — doing  it  on  a  scale  to  which  we,  with 
our  affluent  means  and  loud  professions,  have  made 
no  approximation.  But  their  poverty  fetters  and  op- 
presses them.  Why  should  we  not  go  to  their  relief? 
Do  you  reply  by  pointing  to  their  complicity  in  the 
late  war  ?  But  what  then?  In  the  Providence  of 
God  they  stand  between  us  and  the  freedmen.  We 
cannot  reach  the  freedmen  without  their  co-operation. 
Would  you  rather  these  millions  should  die  icithouf  the 
Gospel,  than  assist  Southern  (Jliristians  in  giving  them  the 
Gospel?  Is  this  "the  mind  which  was  in  Christ?" 
No  one  will  pretend  it.  Our  duty,  then,  is  plain.  Let 
the  Northern  Churches  rise  up  as  one  man  to  this  ser- 
vice. Let  them  pour  of  their  abundance  into  the 
hands  of  their  Southern  brethren.  Let  them  say  to 
them: — "You  have  access  to  these  people,  and  we 
have  not.  You  understand  their  ways.  You  can 
gain  their  confidence.    Provide  them  with  schools  and 


20  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

churches;  with  teachers  and  preachers;  and  we  will 
assist  you  with  funds."  Were  not  this  a  hundred  fold 
better  than  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  these  multitudes, 
who  are  clamoring  at  our  very  doors  for  the  bread  of 
life  ?  Well,  all  we  need  to  bring  this  about  is,  a  re- 
formed and  revived  Christianity.  And,  therefore,  in 
the  name  of  three  millions  of  freedmen,  do  I  plead  for 
this  as  our  country's  grand  necessity. 

Again,  such  a  Christianity,  it  must  be  apparent,  is 
the  only  agency  that  can  cope  with  the  wayward  pas- 
sions and  selfish  aims  which  have  so  much  demoral- 
ized our  current  politics.  The  necessity  for  ample  and 
varied  Legislation,  National,  State,  and  Municipal, 
will  be  conceded  on  all  hands.  The  more  indispen- 
sable is  it  that  it  should  be  conceived  in  the  spirit  of 
wisdom,  equity,  and  humanity.  This  will  apply  to 
all  official  bodies,  and  to  all  sections  of  the  Union. 
Hence  the  radical  importance  of  composing  our  quar- 
rels; and  renewing  the  ancient  amity,  as  among  all 
portions  of  the  country.  Here  is  a  task  which  Legis- 
lation alone  cannot  accomplish,  and  which  must  of 
right,  precede  and  preside  over  all  statutory  enact- 
ments. We  have  no  greater  want  at  this  moment 
than  the  restoration  of  kind  feeling  and  mutual  con- 
fidence among  ourselves,  and  between  the  North  and 
the  South.  The  absence  of  this  is  the  bane  of  our 
politics,  the  canker-worm  of  our  business,  and  the  re- 
proach of  our  Christianity.  The  cry  comes  up  from 
a  hundred  thousand  mills  and  counting-houses,  that 
trade  languishes,  and  portentous  clouds  are  gathering 
over  the  realm  of  commerce.  Various  causes  have 
conspired  to  produce  this  state  of  things.     It  belongs 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  21 

to  the  political  economist  to  indicate  tliem.  But  it 
will  be  no  intrusion  into  a  forbidden  sphere,  to  suggest 
in  this  place,  that  if  the  era  of  general  good  feeling 
could  be  brought  back,  it  would  soon  put  a  new  face 
upon  both  the  politics  and  the  business  of  the  coun- 
try. However  natural  that  prejudices  and  animosi- 
ties should  survive  a  civil  war,  their  pernicious  in- 
fluence is  none  the  less  to  be  deprecated.  It  is  the 
dictate  of  an  enlightened  patriotism,  as  it  assuredly  is 
the  injunction  of  our  holy  religion,  that  we  do  our  ut- 
most to  foster  a  spirit  of  forbearance  and  conciliation. 
We  ought  to  frown  upon  all  attempts,  whether  put 
forth  by  our  own  citizens  or  by  foreigners,  to  re-open 
the  wounds  of  the  war,  and  revive  its  estrangements. 
It  is  well  to  cultivate  amicable  relations  with  other 
nations,  even  with  those  which  were  undeniabl}'  hos- 
tile to  us  in  the  day  of  our  calamity.  But  it  is  of 
ineffably  higher  moment  that  we  "be  at  peace  among 
ourselves" — not  merely  that  the  sword  be  sheathed 
and  our  armies  disbanded,  but  that  we  dwell  together 
once  more  as  one  people,  united  in  the  bonds  of  a 
true  brotherhood.  Whoever  comes  upon  this  mission, 
we  will  welcome  him  as  an  ambassador  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  But  we  cannot,  and  will  not,  bestow  our 
"  God-speed"  upon  any  man,  citizen  or  stranger,  who 
exerts  his  eloquence  for  the  purpose  of  again  putting 
asunder  those  whom  God  has  joined  together.  How 
to  remove  all  grounds  of  dissension,  and  nourish  the 
virtues  upon  which  our  unit}',  our  strength,  and  our 
prosperity  must  depend,  may  not  admit  of  a  specific 
answer  which  would  cover  the  entire  ground;  but  it 
will  be  admitted,  that  neither  standing  armies  nor 


22  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

legislative  decrees  can  do  this  work ;  that  whatever 
may  be  done  or  attempted  through  other  channels, 
must  be  supplemented  by  the  energy  of  a  Divine 
faith ;  and  that,  as  among  these  allied  agencies,  a  re- 
formed and  revived  Christianity  will,  by  God's  bless- 
ing, be  more  effective  than  all  the  others  combined. 
In  this  view,  we  insist  upon  such  a  Christianity  as 
"the  one  thing  needful  to  our  country." 

We  may  turn  for  a  moment  to  another  department 
of  our  affairs  which  will  supply  a  further  demonstra- 
tion of  our  thesis.  The  popular  sentiment  appears  to 
be,  that  having  repressed  Secession  and  abolished 
slavery,  there  is  no  serious  danger  threatening  our 
future  progress.  This  is  to  overlook  an  evil  which 
appears  among  us,  strong  in  itself  and  clothed  with 
the  spoils  of  a  hundred  empires,  viz.,  the  corruption 
of  the  public  morals.  Not  to  advert  to  the  unex- 
ampled prevalence  of  profaneness,  intemperance.  Sab- 
bath-breaking, and  other  vices,  the  growth  of  dishon- 
esty for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  without  precedent 
in  our  history.  I  shall  not  waste  your  time  and  my 
own  with  specific  proofs.  No  one  who  reads  the  daily 
journals,  or  opens  his  ears  to  the  talk  along  every 
thoroughfare,  can  be  ignorant  of  the  frightful  increase 
of  fraud,  peculation,  and  bribery  throughout  the  land. 
This  is  no  allegation  of  the  pulpit.  It  is  much  more 
discussed  out  of  the  pulpit  than  in  it.  -Newspapers 
of  every  type  dwell  upon  it.  Politicians  of  all  schools 
affirm  it.  If  human  testimony  can  avail  to  establish 
anything,  a  considerable  portion  even  of  the  legislation 
of  the  country  proceeds  upon  such  principles  as  are  sup- 
posed to  bear  sway  only  in  the  communities  inclosed 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  23 

by  the  four  walls  of  a  Penitentiary.  Now  is  any  one 
so  simple  as  to  imagine  that  a  country  can  bear  this 
permanently?  Of  what  avail  are  your  constitutions 
and  charters?  Why  boast  of  your  intelligence  and 
your  freedom  ?  Why  chant  with  so  much  exultation 
the  requiem  of  slavery  and  rebellion?  There  is  a 
worm  at  the  core  which,  unless  arrested,  will  spread 
the  pallor  of  death  over  your  gairish  prosperity.  No 
nation  can  thrive  without  virtue.  If  we  do  not  root 
out  this  iniquity,  it  will  destroy  us.  And  there  is 
but  one  effectual  antidote  to  it.  Other  specifics  may 
cure  mere  cutaneous  affections.  But  this  malady  has 
its  seat  in  the  heart,  and  grace  alone  can  reach  it.  A 
pure  Christianity,  applied  in  the  fulness  of  its  hal- 
lowed influences  and  with  the  might  of  its  indwelling 
Spirit,  will  extirpate  even  this  cancer;  and  bring  the 
nation  back,  at  least  in  some  good  measure,  to  the 
practice  of  integrity.  Is  it  not,  then,  the  "o?ze  thing 
needfuV  to  us  ? 

Passing  over  numerous  features  of  our  condition 
which  would  be  most  apposite  to  the  subject  in  hand, 
one  cannot  survey  the  religious  state  of  the  country 
without  feeling  how  much  we  need  a  renovated  Chris- 
tianity. Even  before  the  war  it  was  an  unsolved 
problem  whether  the  evangelical  faith  could  keep 
pace  with  our  expanding  population.  The  war  has 
at  once  abridged  the  resources  of  the  Churches,  and 
augmented  fifty  or  an  hundred  fold  the  field  to  be 
cultivated.  Aside  from  the  ever-increasing  wants  of 
the  West,  what  prospect  is  there  that  the  immense 
spiritual  destitutions  of  the  South  are  to  be  supplied? 
Hundreds  of  church-edifices  and   school-houses,  de- 


24  A   REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

stroyed  by  the  war,  are  to  be  rebuilt.  An  efficient 
system  of  Missions  must  be  established.  And  provi- 
sion must  be  made  for  the  education  and  religious 
culture  of  the  emancipated  race.  To  expect  Southern 
Christians  to  do  all  this  by  themselves  would  be  very 
unreasonable.  It  will  require  an  amount  of  money 
and  an  array  of  laborers  exceeding  the  exigencies  of 
any  other  field  yet  presented  within  our  territorial 
limits.  The  pecuniary  means  must  come  largely  from 
without.  To  the  credit  of  the  North,  as  already  ob- 
served, generous  contributions  have  been  made  to 
these  objects.  But  what  has  been  done  is  traceable 
to  the  liberality  of  the  few.  Our  Churches  as  a  body 
have  not  yet  opened  their  hearts  to  this  cause.  A 
single  denomination,  the  Protestant  Episcopalian,  has 
set  a  praiseworthy  example  of  co-operation  with  its 
Southern  Dioceses.  With  numerous  individual  ex- 
ceptions, the  Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Presbyterians 
of  the  North  exhibit  no  disposition  to  fraternize  with 
their  brethren  of  the  South.  The  catholic  spirit  of 
Christian  union  among  Presbyterians,  so  benign  in 
itself  and  of  such  auspicious  tendency,  is  not  yet 
catholic  enough  (if  one  may  judge  from  the  late  "Con- 
vention") even  to  recognize  the  existence  of  a  great 
Church  comprising  eight  hundred  ministers  and  con- 
gregations, which,  up  to  18G1,  constituted  the  soundest 
and  most  homogeneous  portion  of  our  own  fold.  They 
need  our  help — for  themselves,  and  for  the  perishing 
millions,  white  and  black,  around  them.  That  in  the 
end  this  succor  will  be  accorded;  that  Northern  and 
Southern  Churches  will  make  common  cause  of  culti- 
vating these  wastes,  and  gathering  the  harvests  for 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  25 

Christ,  is  as  certain  as  that  they  have  "one  Lord,  one 
faith,  and  one  baptism."  Christian  love  has  van- 
quished the  resentments  of  many  a  bitter  war;  and  it 
will  subdue  ours.  But  while  we  stand  apart,  sin  and 
death  pause  not  in  their  fatal  work.  Our  estrange- 
ment is  their  opportunity.  A  reformed  and  revived 
Christianity  might  not  at  once  heal  all  our  divisions, 
but  it  would  unite  the  Evangelical  Churches  of  the 
two  sections  in  a  goodly  fellowship,  and  combine  their 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  "common  salvation."  Such  an 
event  would  prove  the  harbinger  of  untold  blessings 
to  the  country;  and  the  agency  which  alone  can  bring 
it  about,  may  be  justly  regarded  as  our  paramount 
national  necessity. 

These  hints  may  suffice  to  give  some  idea  of  the 
task  which  the  course  of  events  has  laid  upon  the 
American  Churches.  Of  the  several  particulars  enu- 
merated, there  is  not  one  which  may  not  be  insisted 
upon  as  indispensable  to  our  highest  welfare.  Nor  is 
there  one  which  can  be  accomplished  (miracles  apart) 
except  through  the  energy  of  our  Divine  religion.  As 
the  very  first  step  in  this  direction,  the  Church  needs  to 
reform  itself  Freely  conceding  everything  that  can 
in  reason  be  claimed  on  behalf  of  its  piety,  and  zeal, 
and  charitable  achievements,  the  growing  assimilation 
of  the  Church  to  the  world,  is  no  longer  a  point  to  be 
argued :  it  is  known  and  read  of  all  men.  Just  at  the 
juncture  when  it  needs  to  be  clad  with  the  whole 
armor  of  God,  and  to  bring  all  its  resources  into  the 
mighty  contest  between  truth  and  error,  it  is  holding 
treasonable  parley  with  the  enemy,  and  bartering  its 


26  A    REFORMED    AND    REVIVED    CHRISTIANITY, 

weapons  of  celestial  proof  for  his  showy  but  worthless 
implements,  and  inviting  him  within  its  gates,  and  all 
but  offering  him  the  very  keys  of  the  citadel.  If  this 
goes  on,  it  will  take  no  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah  to  forecast 
the  future  both  of  the  Church  and  the  country.  It 
requires  but  a  glance  across  the  water,  to  see  how  im- 
potent for  good  even  the  largest  and  most  opulent 
Churches  become,  when  they  have  lost  their  spiritual- 
ity,— when  the  blind  undertake  to  lead  the  blind, 
and  the  dumb  to  prophesy  upon  the  slain.  Let  our 
Churches  take  warning.  Let  them  beware  of  remov- 
ing the  bulwarks  which  the  Master  has  reared  around 
His  own  fold.  When  solicited  to  adjudicate  between 
great  political  parties,  let  them  remember  that  even 
Christ  himself  refused  so  much  as  to  arbitrate  a  dis- 
pute between  two  obscure  individuals — dismissing  the 
petitioner  with  the  sharp  reproof,  "Who  hath  made 
me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you?"  Let  them  observe 
rites  as  rites,  and  not  mistake  them  for  the  substance 
of  the  Gospel.  Let  them  keep  sacred  music  within  its 
proper  sphere — a  most  honorable  sphere,  but  not  one 
which  entitles  it  to  absorb  the  entire  interest  of  pub- 
lic worship.  Let  them  resist  the  tendency  to  cater  to 
the  demands  of  a  meretricious  taste,  which,  not  con- 
tent with  an  unchallenged  sway  over  the  wide  domain 
of  social  life,  would  impose  its  arbitrary  laws  upon 
"the  Church  of  the  living  God,"  and  transmute  its 
simple,  heaven-derived  cidtus  into  a  glittering  pageant. 
Let  them  discountenance  the  growing  habit  on  the 
part  even  of  Christian  families,  to  wander  about  on 
the  Lord's  Day  in  quest  of  "shows"  and  "perform- 
ances"— none  the  less  such  because  enacted  under  the 


OUR  country's  great  necessity.  27 

guise  of  worship.  Let  them  continually  supplicate 
for  themselves  and  for  all  the  people,  the  enlighten- 
ing, renewing,  and  sanctifying  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  If  these  things,  and  such  as  these  are  faith- 
fully observed  by  the  Churches,  and  by  those  who 
compose  their  several  communions,  the  Christianity 
of  the  land  icill  be  "reformed  and  revived."  Through 
all  its  arteries  the  nation  will  feel  the  pulsations  of  a 
new  life.  Slowly  but  surely  the  manners,  the  press, 
the  politics,  and  the  business  of  the  country  will  be 
ameliorated  and  elevated.  Faction  and  discord  will 
give  place  to  a  pure  and  lofty  patriotism.  And  our 
Days  of  Thanksgiving  will  be  welcomed  by  a  united 
and  prosperous  people,  singing, — 

"We'll  crowd  thy  gates  with  thankful  song-s, 
High  as  the  heavens  our  voices  raise ; 
And  earth  with  her  ten  thousand  tongues 
Shall  fill  thy  courts  with  sounding  praise." 


i 


ADDRESS. 


/  ^%^ 


//[  A. 


i 


ADDRESS 


OF  THE  BOARD  OF  MANAGERS 


OF    THE 


.UIERICA]V    PROTESTAyT    ASSOCIATION; 


WITH 


THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  ORGANIZATION 


THE    ASSOCIATION. 


"^^1 


/^  '*?'■  <5^ 


19th  Thousand. 


PRINTED    FOR    THE 
AMERICAN    PROTESTANT   ASSOCIATION," 
PHILADELPHIA. 


IS43 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PBTXTID  BS  .MMF.S  C.  HASWELL,  NO.  46  CARFENTFIl  STRSST, 
(RKAR   OV  THK    ABCADE.) 


AMERICAN  PROTESTANT  ASSOCIATION. 


On  Tuesday  the  8th  of  November,  1842,  a  meeting 
of  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  was  held  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  in  pursuance  of  the  foUowang  invita- 
tion which  had  been  addressed  to  them  : — 

"The  undersigned  deeply  impressed  with  the  value  of  ihe 
privileges  and  blessings  which  have  resulted  to  mankind  from  the 
glorious  Reformation  of  the  16th  century,  and  sensible  of  the 
untiring  efforts,  covert  and  open,  which  are  constantly  making  to 
delude  Protestants  with  the  vain  idea,  that  the  character  and 
tendencies  of  the  great  Apostacy,  which  for  many  centuries  had 
blmded  and  oppressed  a  large  portion  of  mankind,  have  been 
essentially  changed,  and  believing  that  watchfulness  and  exertion 
are  necessary,  to  maintain  an  open  Bible,  and  freedom  of  religious 
opinion  and  profession,  and  thai  the  cause  of  truth  and  godliness 
may  be  strengthened  and  advanced  by  united  counsel  and  effort 
among  true  Protestants>\  do  affectionately  invite  those  who  agree  in 
these  views,  to  meet  at  the  church  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kennaday,  Eighth 
street  above  Race,  on  Tuesday  afternoon  next,  the  8th  inst.  for  the 
purpose  of  consulting  together  upon  the  expediency  of  forming  a 
Protestant  Association,  and  if  the  way  shall  be  found  prepared, 
proceeding  to  its  organization  : — 

Philadelphia,  Nov.  2.1842. 
Rev.  C.  C.  Cutler,  D.D.  Rev.  H.  A.  Boardmax, 

John  Chambers. 


C.  C.  Cutler,  D.D. 
Stephen  H.  Tyng,  D.D. 
JoH^  McDowell,  D.D. 

C.  C,  Yanarsdale. 
J.  Kennaday, 

E.  Neville, 
T.  J.  Thompson, 
Joseph  H.  Kennard, 
John  B.  Dales, 

D.  L.  Carroll,  D.D. 
William  W.  Spear. 
Richard  Xev.ton. 
S.  B.  Wyi.if.  D.D. 


S.  W.  Crawford. 
Joel  Parker,  D.D. 
A.  D.  Gillette, 
Joseph  T.  Cooper. 
George  B.  Ide. 
T.HE0PHILVS  Stork, 
James  M.  Willson. 
Thomas  H.  Stockton, 
Henry  A.  Shcltz. 
Samiel  Agnew. 
Joseph  A.  Davidson. 


Beside  the  clergymen  whose  names  were  affixed  to  this  invita- 
tion there  were  present  at  this  meeting  the  following  ministers  from 
the  various  denominations  whose  titles  are  annexed. 

Presbyterian  Church  (New  School  or  Constitutional.) — Rev. 
Messrs.  Patton,  Rood,  Adair,  Fairchild,  Converse,  Ramsey,  and 
Brown. 

Baptist  Church. — Rev.  Messrs.  Burrows,  Aldrich  and  Dodge. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church. — Rev.  Messrs.  Onins,  Smith, 
Higgins,  Wiggins,  Atwood,  Woolson,  Hagany,  Coombe  and  Sorin. 

Presbyterian  Church  (Old  School.) — Rev.  Messrs.  Williamson, 
Janeway,  Lord,  Hoge,  Loughridge,  Grier  and  Harned. 

dissociate  Presbyterian  Church. — Rev.  Mr.  Webster. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church.— Rev.  Messrs.  Allen,  Hooker, 
Quinan,  Suddards,  and  Hirst. 

German  Reformed  Church. — Rev.  Messrs.  Berg  and  Osborne. 

Congregational  Church. — Rev.  Mr.  Colton. 

The  Rev.  C.  C.  Cuyler  D.  D.  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
appointed  Chairman,  and  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Spear  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  was  appointed  Secretary — and  the  meeting  was 
opened  by  prayer.  After  a  general  expression  of  sentiment,  by  the 
clergy  present,  in  which  there  was  great  unanimity  of  judgment  and 
feeling,  and  an  universal  attestation  of  their  sense  of  the  importance 
of  united  action  for  the  protection  and  defence  of  the  rights  and 
prinf^iples  which  distinguish  tlie  Protestant  Churches  of  this  coun- 
try, from  the  threatening  assaults  of  Romanism, — it  was  unanimously 
Resolved  that  it  is  expedient  now  to  form  a  Protestant  Association, 
and  that  a  committee  of  one  from  each  denomination  represented  in 
tins  meeting,  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  Constitution  for  such  an  Asso- 
ciation : — 

The  Rev.  Drs.  Cuyler,  Tyng,  Wylie,  Carroll,  and  Rev.  Messrs. 
Kennaday,  Vanarsdale,  Stockton,  Ide,  Berg,  Willson,  Dales, 
Webster,  and  Chambers  were  appointed  this  Committee. 

After  prayer  the  meeting  was  then  adjourned  to  Nov.  22d. 

Adjourned  meetings  of  clergymen  for  the  same  object  were  held 
Tuesday  Nov  22,  and  December  -lih.  There  were  present  in  addi- 
tion to  the  clergymen  before  recorded,  the  following  : — 

Baptist  Church. — Rev.  Messrs.  Smith,  Covell,  Winter,  Wil- 
liamrs  and  f^arcombes. 

Presbyterian  (Old  School.) — Rev.  Messrs.  Macklin,  Hope, 
Stewart,  Tudehope  and  Neill. 


Protestant  Episcopal, — Rev.  Messrs.  Van  Pelt,  Trapnell  and 
Ridgely. 

Methodist  Episcopal, — Rev,  Messrs.  Ashton,  Crouch,  Gilroy, 
Merrill,  Elliott,  McFarlnnd,  Greenbank. 

The  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  Constitution  presented 
theit  report,  and  a  Constitution,  which  after  much  consideration, 
was  adopted,  and  the  AMERICAN  PROTESTANT  ASSOCIA- 
TION was  duly  organized,  by  the  members  present  signing  the 
following  Constitution. 

Constitution* 

Whereas,  we  believe  the  system  of  Popery  to  be, 
in  its  principles  and  tendency,  subversive  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  and  destructive  to  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  men,  we  unite  for  the  purpose  of  defending 
our  Protestant  interests  against  the  great  exertions 
now  making  to  propagate  that  system  in  the  United 
States;  and  adopt  the  following  constitution  : — 

Article  I.  This  society  shall  be  called  the  AMERICAN  PRO- 
TESTANT ASSOCIATION. 

Article  II.  The  objects  of  its  formation,  and  for  the  attainment  of 
which  its  efforts  shall  be  directed,  are — 

1.  The  union  and  encouragement  •  Piotestant  ministers'  of  the 
gospel,  to  irive  to  iheir  sever„l  congregations  instruction  on  the 
differences  between  Protestantism  and  Popery. 

2.  To  call  attention  n  the  necessity  of  a  mote  extensive  distri- 
bution, and  thorough  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

3.  The  circulation  of  books  and  tracts  adapted  to  give  informa- 
tion on  the  various  errors  of  Popery  in  their  history,  tendency, 
and  design. 

4.  'I  •  awaken  the  attention  of  the  community  to  the  dangers 
which  threaten  the  liberties,  and  the  public  and  domestic  institu- 
tions, of  these  United  States  from  the  assaults  of  Romanism.      ^ 

Ahticle  III.  This  Association  shall  be  composed  of  all  such  per- 
sons as  agree  in  adopting  the  purposes  and  principles  of  this  con- 
stitution, and  contribute  to  the  funds  by  which  it  i?  supported. 

Article  IV.  The  officers  of  the  Association  shall  be  a  President, 
three  Vice  PresidenL«,  a  treasurer,  a  corresponding  secretary,  a 
recording  secretary,  and  two  lay  director*  from  each  dciamina- 


8 

tion  represented  in  the  Association,  to  be  elected  annually ;  to- 
gether with  all  the  ministers  belonging  to  it;  who  shall  form  a 
Board  for  the  transaction  of  business  of  whom  any  seven,  at  a 
meeting  duly  convened,  shall  be  a  quorum.  The  stated  meetings 
of  the  Board  to  be  quarterly. 

Article  V.  The  Board  of  managers  shall,  at  the  first  meeting  after 
their  election,  appoint  an  executive  committee,  consisting  of  a 
minister  and  layman  from  each  of  the  denominations  represented 
in  the  association,  of  which  the  secretaries  and  treasurer  shall  be 
ex-officio  members.  This  committee  to  meet  as  often  as  they 
may  find  necessary  for  the  transaction  of  the  business  committed 
to  them,  and  to  report  quarterly  to  the  Board  of  managers. 

Article  VI.  The  duties  of  the  Board  shall  be,  to  carry  out,  in 
every  way  most  expedient  in  their  view,  the  ends  and  purposes 
for  which  this  Association  is  organized  ;  and  to  aid  and  encourage 
the  formation  of  similar  associations  in  the  various  parts  of  the 
United  States ;  and  to  render  an  annual  report  of  their  proceed- 
ings to  the  Association,  at  their  annual  meeting  on  the  second 
Tuesday  in  November. 

x\rticle  VII.  The  Board  of  managers  shall  have  power  to  enact 
such  by-laws  as  may  not  be  inconsistent  with  this  constitution, 
and  to  fill  all  vacancies  that  may  occur  between  the  annual 
meetings. 

Article  VIII.  This  constitution  shall  be  subject  to  amendments 
only  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Association,  by  a  vote  of  two 
thirds  of  the  members  present  at  such  meeting. 

Rev.  S.  H.  Tyng,  D.D.     Rev.  H.  A.  Boardman. 

"  C.  C.  Culler,  D.D.  "  A.  D.  Gillette, 

"  D.  L.  Carroll,  D.D.  "  Kichard  Newton, 

"  J.  Kennaday,  **  Joseph  F.  Berg, 

"  George  B.  Ide,  "  Pennell  Coombe, 

"  T.  J.  Thompson,  *'  Jacob  M.  Douglass, 

^"  William  W.  Spear,  "  J.  McDowell,  D.D. 

"  John  Chambers,  "  J.  H.  Kennard, 

•'  Joseph  T.  Cooper,  "  C.  Webster, 

"  Solomon  Higgins,  *'  William  Suddards, 

•*  Wm.  a  Wiggins,  "  John  B.  Dales, 

''  Willis  Lord,  '=  S.  B.  Wylie,  D.D. 

"  Thos.  L.  Janeway,  "  Wm.  H.  Elliott, 

'*  John  B.  Hagany,  "  J.  H.  McFarland, 


Rev.  John  D.  Onins, 

"  R.  M.  Greenbank, 

"  A.  TUDEHOPE, 

"  J.  A.  Clark,  D.D. 

"  John  B.  Pinney, 

"  M.  B.  Hope,  , 

*'  Pi:ter  Van  Pelt, 

-  W.  Neill,  D.D 

"  A.  Green,  D.  D. 

"  W.  M.  Engles,D.D. 

"  John  W.  Grier, 

"  Matthew  Sorin, 

"  W.  McDowell,  D.D. 

"  Tho:\ias  Hoge, 

*'  Walter  Colton, 

"  Peter  Cox, 

"  J.  L.  Burrows, 

"  J.  G.  Maxwell, 

*'  S.  W  Cra\vford, 

"  C.   WlLLL\MSOiN, 

*'  Thos.  G.  Allen, 

"  Robert  Adair, 

"  Edward  Covel, 

"  Thos.  H.  Quinan, 

"  Stephen  A.  Mealy, 

''  C.  C.  WlLLL\MS, 

"  William  Ramsey, 

'•  Thos.  B.  Bradford, 

"  Nathan  Harned, 

"  John  Keller, 

"  A.Helffenstein,jr. 

"  John  W.  Everist, 

''  Ja.mes  Smith, 

''  George  Higgins, 

*•  Joseph  H.  Jones, 

"  J.  W.  Richards, 

"  Samuel  Aaron, 

"  Levi  Bull, 

"  H.  G.  King, 

"  E.  W.  Dickinson, 

"  S.  K.  KcLLOCK, 


Rev.  Anthony  Atwood, 

"  M.  Hirst, 

"  John  Woolson, 

"  J.  L.  Lenhart, 

*•  John  Patton, 

'  Herman  Hooker, 

'*  R.  W.  Griswold, 

"  James  Smith, 

"  Levi  Storks, 

"  John  S.  Inskip, 

"  James  Y.  Ashton, 

"  John  Street, 

"  N.  E.  GiLROY, 

"  Joseph  Castle, 

"  James  W.  Stewart, 

"  W.  Loughridge, 

"  A.  Macklin, 

"  J.W.Yeomans,D.D. 

"  S.  Stevenson, 

*'  T.  Larcombes, 

''  J.  B.  Everts, 

"  T.  Stork, 

"  Anson  Rood, 

"  Robert  Steel, 

''  Wm.  D.  Howard, 

"  James  Neill, 

"  Isaac  R.  Merrill, 

•'  T.  H.  Stockton, 

'•  Marcus  E.  Cross, 

"  Truman  Osborn, 

••  Griffith  Owen, 

"  F.  Ketcham, 

"  Wm.  Latta, 

"  J.  Helffenstein, 

"  S.  D.  Finckel, 

"  Saml.  Beach  Jones, 

"  John  Lednum, 

"  Valentine  Gray, 

"  C.  Van  Rensselaer, 

"  F.  A.  Morrell, 

"  Joseph  Beldon. 
2 


10 


The  following  Gentlemen  were  elected  officers  of 
the  Association : — 

E.  F.  BACKUS,  Esq. 

Rev.  STEPHEN  H.  TYNG,  D.  D., 

Rev.  JOHN  KENNADAY, 

Rev.  GEORGE  B.  IDE. 

CorrPS^JontTiug  Srcretarp, 

Rev.  HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN. 

Hecortrutg  Srcretarp, 

Rev.  WILLIAM  W.  SPEAR. 

STveastircr, 

Mb.  a.  H.  JULIAN. 


Lay 

SAMUEL  AGNEW, 
JOSEPH  A.  DAVIDSON, 

GEORGE  W.  McCLELAND, 
ANTHONY  GREEN, 
FREDERICK  W.  PORTER, 
JOHN  FARR, 

ROBERT  LAMBERTON, 
DANIEL  MURPHY, 

RICHARD  BENSON, 
GEORGE  STEPHENS, 

ROBERT  HANCOCKS, 
WILLIAM  RORER, 
THOMAS  H.  DICKSON, 
WM.  K.  HEMPHILL, 
EDWARD  JONES, 
THOMAS  WATSON, 

JOHN  ALEXANDER, 
JOHN  EVANS, 

A.  H.  BURTIS, 
FRANCIS  MITCHELL, 
C.  SCHRACK, 
WILLIAM  M.  HEYL, 
WILLIAM  HINCKLE, 
JOHN  FINN, 


Directors. 

>  -     Presbyterian  (Old  SchooL) 

>  •     Presbyterian  (New  School.) 

>  -     Protestant  Episcopal. 

}■  -    Associate  Presbyterian. 

>  -    Methodist  Episcopal. 
S  -     German  Reformed. 

>  -     Associate  Reformed. 

>  -     Baptist. 

>  -     Reformed  Presbyterian. 

>  -     Independent. 

>  •■    Lutheran. 

>  Methodist  Protestant. 


11 

At  the  subsequent  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Mana- 
gers at  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Tyng  and  Carroll,  and  Rev  Messrs.  Board  man, 
Kennaday,  Gillette,  Willson,  Webster  and  Berg,  were 
appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  an  Address  to  be 
printed  and  distributed  as  the  Address  of  the  American 
Protestant  Association,  giving  a  view  of  the  nature 
and  objects  of  this  Association  and  the  reasons  which 
have  led  to  its  organization. 

This  Committee  reported  an  Address  which  was 
adopted  by  the  Board,  and  referred  to  the  same  Com- 
mittee to  be  printed. 

This  Committee  were  also  directed  to  prefix  to  the 
Address,  the  Constitution  of  the  Association,  and  such 
extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the  Association  and  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  as  they  might  deem  necessary. 

The  above  extracts  are  printed  according  to  this 
direction. 


ADDRESS 

OF    THE     BOARD     OF     MANAGERS 

OF   THE 

AMERICAN  PROTESTANT  ASSOCIATION. 


The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  American  Protestant 
Association,  deem  it  proper,  in  submitting  their  Con- 
stitution to  the  consideration  of  their  fellow  citizens, 
to  lay  before  them  a  brief  exposition  of  the  reasons 
which  have  led  to  this  organization  and  of  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  it  is  to  be  conducted.  These  will 
be  partially  understood  by  a  reference  to  the  objects 
for  which  the  Association  has  been  formed,  as  set 
forth  in  the  Second  Article  of  the  Constitution.  That 
Article  is  as  follows : — 

"  The  objects  of  its  formation  and  for  the  attain- 
ment of  which  its  efforts  shall  be  directed,  are, 

1.  The  union  and  encouragement  of  Protestant 
Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  to  give  to  their  several  con- 
gregations, instruction  on  the  differences  between 
Protestantism  and  Popery. 

2.  To  call  attention  to  the  necessity  of  a  more 
extensive  distribution  and  thorough  study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures. 

3.  The  circulation  of  books  and  tracts  adapted  to 


13- 

give  information  on  tlie  various  errors  of  Popery,  in 
their  history,  tendency,  and  design. 

4.  To  awaken  the  attention  of  the  community  to 
the  dangers  which  threaten  the  liberties,  and  the 
public  and  domestic  Institutions,  of  these  United 
States,  from  the  assaults  of  Romanism." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  article,  that  the  Associa- 
tion we   represent,  has  grown  out  of  a   conviction 
that  our  civil  and  religious  institutions  are  exposed 
to  serious  danger  from  the  secret  and  open  assaults 
of  Popery.      AVe    are   avv-are  that,  in   avowing   this 
conviction,    we    may   find    little   or   no    sympathy 
among  a  portion  of  our  Protestant  population.     The 
great  numerical  disparity  between    Protestants  and 
Romanists  in  our  country,  and  the   general  intelli- 
gence of  our  citizens,  furnish  us,  in  their  view,  with 
an  adequate  defence  against  all  exertions  that  may  be 
made  to  propagate  the  errors  of  Popery  in  the  United 
States.     It  is  the  prevalence  of  this  feeling,  or  rather 
this  want  of  feeling,  among  Protestants,  which  chiefly 
excites  our  apprehensions.     We  too  believe  that  the 
Popery  of  this  country  is  as  yet  a  perfectly  manage- 
able thing.     We  should  think  as  meanly  of  Protes- 
tantism as  the  Roman  Catholics   themselves  do,  if 
we  questioned  the  plenary  ability  of  the  Protestants 
of  this  Union  by  moral  means  alone,  (for  all  other 
means,  in  such  a  controversy,  we  abhor,)  to  keep 
Popery   within    narrow    limits   and    counteract    its 
pernicious  influences.     But  while  misapprehension, 
apathy,  and  false  sympathy  prevail  to  so  great  an 
extent  among  Protestants,  we  are  free  to  confess  that, 
we  look  with  deep  solicitude  upon  the  extraordinary 
efforts  now  making  by  the  Papal  Hierarchy  to  obtain 
a  firm  footinor  in  this  country. 


14 

Addressing,  as  we  are,  a  Protestant  population  who 
have  free  access  to  the  Bible  and  who  reverence  its 
authority,  we  may  be  permitted  to  remind  you,  that 
the  ground  on  v.'hich  the  glorious  Reformation  was 
undertaken  and  achieved,  was,  that  Popery  was  the 
great  Antichrist  so  minutely  delineated  in  the 
prophecies  of  Daniel,  in  several  of  the  Epistles,  and 
in  the  Book  of  Revelation  ;  and  that  this  view  has 
been  not  only  adopted  by  the  great  body  of  Protes- 
tant Commentators  and  Divines,  but  incorporated  in 
the  Creeds  and  Confessions  of  nearly  all  the  Reformed 
Churches.*  We  may  further  remind  you  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  "  sure  word  of  prophecy,"  this  Anti- 
christian  power,  after  suffering  a  temporary  depres- 
sion, (as  Romanism  has  done  since  the  16th  century,) 
is,  in  the  *  last  days,'  to  gather  up  its  waning  strength, 
and,  allying  itself  perhaps  with  civil  despotism,  to 
make  a  final  onset  upon  Christianity — an  onset  surpas- 
sing in  fury  and  malignity  all  its  previous  assaults,  and 
to  be  attended  with  signal  though  short-lived  success. 
With  these  prophecies  before  you,  we  would  ask  you 
whether  there  is  nothing  ominous  of  evil  in  the 
recent  movements  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  Just  as 
Protestants  were  beginning  to  merge  their  hatred  of 

*  Among  the  distinguished  writers  who  have  maintained  the  identity 
of  Papal  Rome  with  Antichrist,  may  be  mentioned,  in  addition  to  all  the 
continental  and  British  Reformers,  the  names  of  Mede,  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton, Brightman,  Cressener,  Whiston,  Bishops  Newton  and  Hurd,  Wil- 
liam Lowth,  Dr.  H.  More,  Daubuz,  Jurieu,  Vitringa,  Pyle,  Dr.  S.  Clarke, 
Dr.  A  Clark,  and  the  late  Bishop  White.  Of  the  Churches  which  have 
borne  the  same  testimony  in  their  authorized  doctrinal  standards,  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  mention,  the  Lutheran  Church,  the  Church  of  England,  and 
its  daughter  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  the 
Church  of  Ireland,  the  Baptist  Church,  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland 
and  Germany,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  various  branches 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Europe  and  America. 


16 

her  crimes  in  a  feeling  of  pity  for  her  decrepitude, 
that  Church  has  thrown  off  her  torpor  and  become 
re-irapregnated  with  the  energy  and  ambition  of  her 
earUer  days.  This  renovation  of  her  decaying  pow- 
ers is  probably  to  be  ascribed,  in  no  small  degree,  to 
the  efforts  of  the  Jesuits.  This  Order  was  originally 
established  to  oppose  the  Reformation.  Its  principles 
have  an  adequate  exposition  in  the  fact  that  the  name 
of  Jesuit,  (notwithstanding  the  pains  taken  of  late 
by  some  nominal  Protestants  to  make  it  reputable,) 
is  every  where  a  synonym e  with  falsehood,  chicanery 
and  covert  crime.  The  Order  became  so  powerful 
during  the  last  century  and  so  dangerous  to  the  peace 
of  Europe,  that  it  was  expelled  successively  from 
England,  Venice,  Portugal,  France,  Spain  and  Sicily, 
and  was  at  length,  through  the  influence  of  Catholic 
Governments,  abolished  and  suppressed  by  Pope 
Clement  XIV.  in  1773.  But  it  was  restored  twenty- 
eight  years  ago,  by  Pius  VII.,  for  the  purpose  of 
makinor  afrorressive  movements  agrainst  Protestantism. 
Many  of  the  priests,  it  may  be  added,  in  this  country, 
are  known  to  be  of  this  fraternity,  and  they  have 
several  institutions  here  for  training  Jesuits.* — What- 
ever truth  there  may  be  in  the  conjecture  that  the 
revival  of  Popery  is  to  be  ascribed  mainly  to  this 
Order  the  fact  that  Popery  is  reviving,  is  indisputable. 
We  see  it  in  heathen  and  semi-Christian  lands.  In 
Syria,  in  Persia,  in  Hindostan,  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  in  other  countries  to 
which  Christian  Missionaries  have  gone  to  dispense 
the  bread  of  life  to  the  perishing,  they  are  already 
tracked  by  Popish  emissaries  who  are  as  busily  scat- 

*  See  Appendix,  Note  A, 


16 

tering  the  seeds  of  death.  We  see  it  still  more  de- 
cisively in  Protestant  Europe.  The  Protestantism  of 
the  continent  is  of  late  assailed  by  the  union  of  the 
power  of  Popery  with  anomalous  and  formidable  com- 
binations of  errorists ;  and  its  rapid  spread  in  England 
and  Scotland,  has  excited  a  general  feeling  of  appre- 
hension among  the  most  intelligent  classes  of  the 
British  people.  These  movements  in  the  other  hemis- 
phere must  operate  powerfully  here.  Our  connection 
with  the  British  Isles  especially  is  so  intimate,  that  no 
great  political  or  ecclesiastical  changes  can  take  place 
there,  without  being  sensibly  felt  by  our  country. 
But  the  Papal  See  puts  too  high  an  estimate  upon 
this  country,  to  trust  the  effiicacy  of  mere  sympathy 
for  its  subjugation.  Its  demonstrations  are  of  too 
decisive  a  character,  and  on  too  grand  a  scale,  to  leave 
us  in  any  doubt  as  to  its  ultimate  designs. 

We  do  not  indeed  assent  to  the  doctrine  that  our 
duty  in  this  matter  as  American  citizens,  and  Pro- 
testants, is  suspended  upon  the  right  or  wrong  reso- 
lution of  the  question  whether  Popery  is  destined 
to  acquire  an  ultimate  domination  in  this  country. 
Regarding  it  as  a  system  which  is  proved  by  its  own 
avowed  principles,  by  the  whole  tenor  of  history,  and 
by  the  present  state  of  all  Ptoman  Catholic  countries, 
to  be  '  subversive  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and 
destructive  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  men,'  we  are 
not  disposed  to  waive  opposition  to  it  until  we  are 
able  to  demonstrate  its  probable  triumph  over  our 
free  institutions.  Whatever  is  to  be  the  final  issue  of 
this  contest,  we  feel  called  upon  by  what  we  see 
already,  to  unite  for  the  purpose  of  defending  from 
its  insidious  assaults,  the  rich  inheritance  of  liberty 
and    truth    which   by  the  mercy  of  God    we    have 


17 

received  from  our  fathers.  We  see,  for  example,  as 
the  acknowledored  leaders  of  the  Roman  Church  in 
the  United  States,  a  large  and  increasing  body  of 
ecclesiastics,  mostly  foreigners,  who  have  no  ties  of 
birth  or  blood  to  attach  ti^m  to  our  soil  and  whose 
Bishops  are  bound  bv  their  oath  of  office  to  "  defend 
and  keep  the  Roman  Papacy  and  the  royalties  of 
St.  Peter ^  against  all  men.'**  We  see  these  ecclesi- 
astics attempting  to  drive  the  Holv  Scriptures  from 
our  systems  of  public  education  : — and  urging  argu- 
ments (we  may  add)  for  the  attainment  of  this  object, 
which  assume  that  there  are  fundamental  and  irre- 
ayicilabk  differences  between  their  principles  and 
those  on  which  our  social  and  political  institutions 
repose.  We  see  them  boasting  that  they  hold  the 
balance  of  political  power,  and,  as  often  as  their  own 
ends  are  to  be  subserved  by  it,  banding  together  their 
deluded  followers,  and  exhibiting  the  serious  and 
alarming  character  of  an  avowed  religious  party  in 
politics — a  party  governed  by  a  foreign  head,  g^uided 
by  priests,  the  greater  part  of  whom  are  not  naturali- 
zed citizens,  and  impelled  by  sympathies  at  war  with 
our  republican  institutions.  We  see  the  sfecular 
press,  with  a  few  honourable  exceptions,  abstaining 
from  any  censure  of  these  bold  and  threatening  move- 
ments, and  frequently,  in  communities  four  fifths  of 
which  are  Protestants,  paying  a  paramount  deference 
to  the  sentiments  and  wishes  of  Romanists,  and  lend- 
ing its  influence  in  an  incidental  but  powerful  way, 
to  the  support  of  Popery.  We  see  Popish  Chapels 
multiplying  throughout  the  Middle  and  Western 
States,  and,  not  unfrequentlv,  relying  upon  nominal 
Protestants  to  fill  them.     We  see  their  Colleges  and 

*  S^  Appendix,  Note  B. 


IS 

Seminaries  springing  up  in  every  part  of  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  sustained  mainly  by  Protes- 
tant families.  We  see  a  powerful  Association  the 
"Leopold  Foundation"  organized  in  Austria,  under 
the  patronage  of  Prince  Metternich,  a  prime  friend 
of  despotism  and  Popery,  for  the  purpose  of  propa- 
gating Romanism  in  this  country:  and  a  similar 
society  at  Lyons  sending  here  for  the  same  object 
during  the  last  year,  the  sum  of  177.000  dollars. 
And  now  we  see  a  gigantic  scheme  set  on  foot  in 
Great  Britain  for  disseminating  Popery  here  by  plan- 
ting large  colonies  of  Papists  in  our  Western  States 
— a  scheme  whose  inherent  impracticability  does  not 
make  it  less  significant  of  the  designs  which  are 
entertained  concerning  that  Valley  at  Rome. 

These  things  and  many  othere  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter convince  us,  that  if  there  be  any  one  thing  certain 
about  this  revival  of  Popery,  it  is  that  the  church  of 
Rome  has  determined  to  spare  no  effort  or  expense 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  controlling  influence  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thereby,  a  political 
predominance  in  the  country  at  large,  and  an  expan- 
sion of  her  power  and  influence  which  would  be 
felt  throughout  the  world.  And  yet  the  body  of  our 
Protestant  population,  whether  through  ignorance^ 
self-security,  or  whatever  cause,  remain  indifferent 
to  this  subject.  While  Romanism  is  establishing  its 
proselyting  schools  throughout  the  land,  to  pervert  the 
tender  minds  of  our  youth ;  and  directing  its  efforts- 
to  destroy  the  religious  character  and  influence  of 
public  Protestant  education;  and  organizing  itself 
under  a  foreign  priesthood,  for  direct  interference  with 
our  political  elections ;  and  publishing  and  circulating 
the  most  opprobrious  assaults  upon  the  doctrines  of 


19 

our  Protestant  faith;  and  segregating  its  adherents 
into  a  distinct  body,  alien  in  sympathy  and  interest 
from  the  mass  of  the  American  people;  a  large 
portion  of  our  Protestant  citizens,  who  might  with 
ease  arrest  the  progress  of  these  evils,  seem  un- 
willing even  to  be  apprized  of  their  existence,  and 
instead  of  opposing  them,  actually  contribute  of 
their  funds  to  maintain  Popish  churches,  Asylums,* 
and  Seminaries,  and  commit  their  children  to  the 
tutelage  of  Popish  priests  and  nuns. 

It  is  this  fact — this  insensibility  of  Protestants — 
which  more  than  any  thing  else,  has  awakened  our 
anxiety  and  created  the  necessity  for  an  Association 
like  that  with  which  we  are  connected.  We  are 
aware  that  some  Protestants  plead  as  an  apology  for 
their  apathy  that  Popery  has  undergone  material 
changes  and  is  no  longer  the  foe  to  human  liberty 
and  happiness  that  it  once  was. 

If  all  that  is  meant  by  the  sentiment  that  Popery 
has  changed,  is,  that  the  Romanism  of  the  United 
States  differs  in  its  outward  aspect  from  the  Roman- 
ism of  Spain,  South  America,  and  the  West  Indies, 
this  is  readily  admitted.  The  time  has  not  yet 
arrived  in  this  country,  when  the  public  sentiment 
will  tolerate  hordes  of  mendicant  priests  living  in 
open  and  shameless  profligacy,  or  when  American 
citizens  will  peaceably  submit  to  be  run  through  with 
the  bayonets  of  a  mercenary  soldiery,  for  refusing  to 


*  The  secular  pap&rs  frequently  appeal  to  their  readers  to  aid  in 
supporting  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylums.  An  orphan  is  an  object 
of  sympathy  to  every  feeling  heart:  but  are  we  really  doing  these  helpless 
children  a  kindness,  by  assisting  to  train  them  up  in  the  errors  of  Popery  T 
and  are  not  these  very  children  to  be  hereafter  employed  as  priests  and 
nuns  in  dissemiaating  Romanism  1 


20 

do  homage  to  the  procession  of  the  host  as  it  passes 
along  their  crowded  thoroughfares.  The  system 
must  be  evolved  slowly — as  the  country  will  bear  it. 
But  if  it  is  meant  that  Popery  has  really  modified  its 
doctrines,  lowered  its  pretensions,  or  become  human- 
ized in  its  spirit,  the  opinion  has  no  adequate  found- 
ation. We  might  expose  its  fallacy  by  referring  to 
the  boast  of  Popery  that  it  is  'infallible,'  and  there- 
fore unchangeable — by  pointing  to  the  condition 
of  all  thoroughly  Papal  countries — or  by  quoting 
the  testimony  of  a  really  infallible  witness,  (see 
2  Thess.  ii,  8.  and  Rev.  18.)  that  the  Church  of 
Rome  is  neoer  to  be  reformed,  but  is  ultimately 
to  be  destroyed  by  the  judgments  of  heaven. 

But  we  must  be  allowed  to  remind  you,  that  not- 
withstandincT  the  modest  oruise  which  that  church 
puts  on,  in  this  and  other  Protestant  countries,  no 
evidence  whatever  has  been  produced,  emanating 
froin  the  Papal  See  that  it  has  abated  its  pretensions 
or  laid  aside  its  persecuting  tenets.  We  are  not 
satisfied  with  the  disclaimers  of  Roman  Cathohc 
laymen  or  the  denials  of  Romish  priests.  We  insist 
upon  a  renunciation  from  the  only  authority  in  the 
church  which  has  the  right  to  make  one.  We 
demand  that  the  same  power  which  enjoined  the 
persecutions  of  former  days,  shall  express  its  dissap- 
proval  of  them,  and  repudiate  the  pretended  right 
to  persecute  for  opinion's  sake.  When  proof  of  this 
sort  is  produced,  we  may  listen  to  the  suggestion 
that  Popery  has  put  off  its  intolerance. — We  do 
not,  however,  rest  here.  We  have  a  witness  at 
hand  who  will  be  deemed  both  competent  and 
credible  as  to  the  point  under  consideration.  This 
witness  is  Gregory  XVI.  the  reigning  Pope;  and  the 


21 

document  from  which  we  quote  is  his  famous  Encyc- 
lical Letter  of  August  15th,  1832.* 

"  From  that  polluted  fountain  of  indifference  flows 
that  absurd  and  erroneous  doctrine,  or  rather  raving, 
in  favor  and  in  defence  of  '  liberty  of  conscience^  for 
which  most  jpestilential  error,  the  course  is  opened 
by  that  entire  and  wild  liberty  of  opinion  which  is 
everywhere  attempting  the  overthrow  of  civil  and 
religious  institutions;  and  which  the  unblushing 
impudence  of  some,  has  held  forth  as  an  advantage  of 
reliorion.  ******* 

From  hence  arise  these  revolutions  in  the  minds  of 
men,  hence,  this  aggravated  corruption  of  youth, 
hence  this  contempt  among  the  people  of  sacred 
things,  and  of  the  most  holy  institutions  and  laws; 
hence,  in  one  word,  that  j^e^^  of  all  others  most  to  be 
dreaded  in  a  State,  unbridled  liberty  of  opinion.'^ 

Again :  "  Hither  tends  that  worst  and  never 
sufficiently  to  be  execrated  and  detested  liberty  of 
the  press,  for  the  diffusion  of  all  manner  of  writings, 
which  some  so  loudly  contend  for  and  so  actively 
promote." 

And  again  :  "  Nor  can  we  augur  more  consoling 
consequences  to  religion  and  to  government,  from 
the  zeal  of  some  to  separate  the  church  from  the  state, 
and  to  burst  the  bond  which  unites  the  priesthood  to 
the  Empire.  For  it  is  clear  that  this  union  is  dreaded 
by  the  profane  lovers  of  liberty,  only  because  it  has 
never  failed  to  confer  prosperity  on  both." 

To  this  testimony,  we  append  the  following  extracts 
from  the  theology  of  Peter  Dens,  a  book  which  is 

*  This  Letter  was  published  at  the  time  in  the  Roman  Catholic  papers 
in  this  country. 


22 

used  in  the  R.  C.  College  at  Maynooth,  Ireland.* 
An  edition  of  this  work  has  been  published  at 
Mechlin,  in  the  Netherlands,  as  recently  as  the  year 
1838.     It  is  there  distinctly  asserted  that : — 

"  Baptised  Infidels,  such  as  heretics  and  apostates 
usually  are,  also  baptized  schismatics,  may  he  com- 
pelled even  by  corporeal  punishmerits  to  return  to  the 
Catholic  faith,  and  the  unity  of  the  Church. 

"  The  reason  is,  because  these  by  baptism  have  be- 
come subject  to  the  Church,  and  therefore,  the  Church 
has  jurisdiction  over  them,  and  the  power  of  compel- 
ling them  through  appointed  means  to  obedience, 
and  to  fulfil  the  obligations  contracted  in  baptism." 

Again  it  is  said  by  the  same  author : — 

"  The  rites  of  other  Infidels,  viz  :  pagans  and 
heretics,  in  themselves  considered,  are  not  to  be 
tolerated :  because  they  are  so  bad  that  no  truth  or 
advantage  for  the  good  of  the  Church  can  be  thence 
derived.  Except,  however,  unless  greater  evils 
would  follow  or  greater  benefits  be  hindered." 

After  stating  that  heretics  are  deservedly  visited 
with  penalties  of  exile,  imprisonment,  &c.  this  author 
asks : 

"  Are  heretics  rightly  punished  with  death  V 

"  St.  Thomas  answers  (2.  2.  quest.  XI.,  art.  3.,  in 
Corp.)  Yes^  because  forgers  of  money  or  other  dis- 
turbers of  the  state,  are  justly  punished  with  death; 
therefore  also  heretics,  who  are  forgers  of  the  faith, 
and,  as  experience  shows,  grievously  disturb  the 
state,  "t 

*  The  Institution  in  which  most  of  the  Romish  priests,  who  come  to 
this  country,  are  educated. 

I  See  Synopsis  of  Dens' Moral  Theology;  Philad.,  Ed.,  1842,  pps. 
107,114,117. 


23 

Here  is  documentary  evidence  of  the  highest  kind 
to  show  that  Popery  is  unchanged,  to  prove  that  the 
Popery  of  the  19th  century  and  the  Popery  of  the 
16th  are  the  same.  We  have  it  affirmed  by  a  stand- 
ard authority  in  the  Romish  Church,  that  it  is  right 
TO  PUT  HERETICS  TO  DEATH.  And  we  havc  it  offi- 
cially promulgated  by  the  present  Pope,  that  LI- 
BERTY OF  CONSCIENCE,  LIBERTY  OF 
OPINION,  the  LIBERTY  OF  THE  PRESS,  and 
the  SEPARATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE, 
are  four  of  the  sorest  evils  with  which  a  nation  can  be 
cursed !  Both  as  Protestants  and  as  American  citi- 
zens, we  count  the  rights  which  are  here  assailed  as 
among  our  dearest  franchises :  and  we  cannot  look 
on  in  silence  and  see  the  craft  and  power  of  Rome 
systematically  and  insidiously  employed  to  subvert 
them.  We  deplore  the  necessity  which  calls  for  the 
measure;  but  believing  as  we  do  that  patriotism 
and  Christianity  demand  it,  we  have  united,  and 
we  invite  all  who  love  our  institutions  to  unite 
with  us  in  repelling  the  aggressions  of  the  Papal 
Hierarchy. 

Our  contest  is  not  with  the  Roman  Catholics  as 
individuals.  We  would  not,  if  we  could,  abridge 
their  rights  and  privileges  in  the  slightest  degree. 
We  abhor  persecution  for  opinion's  sake  under  every 
form,  and  we  recognise  their  right  to  the  same  free- 
dom of  thought  and  action  that  we  claim  for  ourselves. 
We  leave  it  to  the  Pope  to  denounce  '  Hberty  of 
opinion,"  '  liberty  of  conscience,'  and  the  '  liberty  of 
the  press,'  as  hostile  to  human  happiness  and  dange- 
rous to  the  welfare  of  States.  It  is  because  the 
system  is  thus,  by  the  accredited  exposition  of  its 
*  infallible'  Head,  at  war  with  our  most  sacred  rights 


«4 

and  interests,  that  we  feel  bound  to  oppose  it.  What- 
ever virtues  may  adorn  the  characters  of  individuals 
in  that  Sect,  we  appeal  to  the  whole  history  of  the 
Romish  Church,  in  proof  of  the  position,  that  the 
principles  assumed  in  the  recent  Encyclical  Letter 
have  been  actually  carried  out  wherever  Rome  has 
had  the  power  to  enforce  them.  So,  that  in  resisting 
the  efforts  now  making  to  establish  this  system 
among  us,  we  are  influenced  by  no  love  of  con- 
troversy, by  no  personal  antipathies,  by  no  sec- 
tarian or  party  ends,  but  by  a  grave  and  imperative 
sense  of  duty  to  our  country,  to  posterity,  and  to 
God. 

We  have  no  doubt  that  efforts  will  be  made  to  excite 
popular  prejudice  against  this  movement.  We  are 
prepared  to  hear  it  alleged  by  Romanists  and  Pseudo- 
Protestants,  that  the  "  American  Protestant  As^cia- 
tion' '  is  an  ungenerous  combination  of  the  many  against 
the  few — that,  possessing  the  numbers  and  the  power, 
we  are  attempting  to  interfere  with  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  the  exercise  of  thdft*  secular  and  ecclesi- 
astical rights : — and  we  very  well  know  that  Popery 
will  grow  apace,  if  it  can  get  the  American  people  to 
believe  that  it  is  "  persecuted."  Reiterating  the 
sentiment  that  persecution  is  as  much  at  variance 
with  all  our  Protestant  and  American  feelings  as  it 
is  coincident  with  the  genius  and  spirit  of  Popery, 
we  respectfully  remind  our  countrymen  that  it  is 
opposition  to  Popery,  which  has  secured  to  them  an 
open  Bible  and  the  privilege  of  confessing  their  sins 
to  God  instead  of  a  priest.  We  remind  them  that 
opposition  to  Popery  has  created  the  difference 
between  our  free,  happy,  and  prosperous  Republic, 
and    the    States  of    South  America,   which  seem 


26 

doomed  lo  perpetual  anarchy  and  depression.  We 
remind  them  that  opposition  to  Poperj  has  oriven 
to  Europe  all  that  she  enjoys  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty :  that  the  progress  of  the  Arts  and  Scien- 
ces, the  mitigation  of  social  evils,  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  the  right  understanding  and  observance 
of  the  reciprocal  duties  of  princes  and  subjectvS, 
magistrates  and  people,  and  the  improvemeni  of 
mankind  in  rational  and  social  happiness,  have  for 
the  last  three  centuries,  gone  hand  in  hand  with 
opposition  to  Popery  :  and  that  just  in  proportion 
as  the  opposition  to  Popery  has  been  relaxed  in  any 
Protestant  country,  superstition  and  infidelity  have 
increased,  vice  has  abounded,  ignorance  and  discon- 
tent have  prevailed  among  the  people,  and  every 
great  national  interest  has  deteriorated. 

If  confirmation  of  these  statements  be  required, 
we  have  it  in  the  present  relative  condition  of  the 
principal  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  countries. 
Compare  Italy  with  Prussia :  compare  Spain  with 
England  :  compare  Mexico  and  the  South  American 
Republics  with  the  United  States.  The  superiority 
of  the  Protestant  countries  is  known  and  read  of  all 
men.  To  what  is  it  owing?  Not  lo  physical  causes 
certainly :  for  in  these  the  Roman  Catholic  countries 
have  the  advantage.  Look  at  Spain,  for  example — 
luxuriant,  beautiful  Spain,  with  her  vine-clad  hills 
and  her  genial  climate,  the  very  garden  of  Europe. 
There  was  a  time  (under  the  Moorish  dynasty,  and 
immediately  after  its  downfall)  when  her  name  was 
a  tower  of  strength  among  the  nations:  now,  the  de- 
crepitude of  a  premature  dotage  is  upon  her,  and 
with  the  little  strength  that  remains  to  her,  she  is 
tearing  out  her  own  vitals.     What  has  turned  this 


26 

Eden  into  an  Aceldama?    What  has  made  that  once 
noble  race,  to  such  an  extent,  a  nation  of  sensualists  and 
gladiators  ?   What  has  spread  the  pall  of  death  over  all 
that  was  lovel)^  and  generous,  and  refined,  in  that 
land  of  song?    The  answer  may  be  given  in  one  word, 
Popery.     Popery  persecuted  the  Reformation  out  of 
Spain,  as  it  did  out  of  Italy.     It  summoned  to  its  aid 
the  chains  and  dungeons,  the  racks  and.  faggots  of  the 
Inquisition,  and,  with  fiendish  fury,  drove  it  from  her 
soil.     The  martyr-blood   which  was  then  shed,  has 
not  yet  ceased  to  cry  to  heaven  for  vengeance.    Spain 
permitted  Popery  to  rob  her  of  the  pure  Christianity 
which  was  offered  her;  and  God  gave  her  up  to  serve 
the  master  she  had  chosen.     There,  for  three  hundred 
years  he  has  swayed  an  undisputed  sceptre.     And 
the  result  is  before  us.     In  climate  and  soil,  Spain  is 
I'.nchanged  ;    for   these  it  was  beyond  the  spoiler's 
power  to  blast.     Kverij  thing  else  lie  has  blighted  and 
cursed, — every  thing  in  her  morals,  every  thing  in 
her  thrift  and  industry,  every  thing  in  her  literature, 
every  thing  in  her  laws, — his  curse  is  in  her  cities 
and  in  her  hamlets,  in  her  cottages  and  in  her  palaces, 
— indeed,  it  might  be  supposed  by  one  ignorant  of 
her  history,  that  Spain,  instead  of  being  the  most  loyal 
of  all  lands  to  the  Papal  See,  was  peopled  with  arch- 
heretics,  for  whose   impieties  all  the   cunses  of  the 
"  greater   excommunication"    had   been   descending 
.  npon  her  for  three  centuries.    And  the  history  of  Spain 
is  the  history  of  all  other  Papal  lands.     Ignorance 
and  superstition,  social  degradation  and  political  op- 
pression, follow  in  the  train  of  Popery  as  naturally 
as  death  follows  the  plague.     The  nation  which  sur- 
renders itself  to  its  control,  is  a  doomed  nation.     Its 
embrace  is  like  the  embrace  of  that  celebrated  imajre 


27 

of  the  Virgin,  in  the  Inquisition,  which  clasped  the 
wretched  victim  in  its  arms,  and,  folding  him  to  its 
breast,  transfixed  him  with  a  thousand  nails  at  once. 

AVe  might  rest  the  argument  here,  and  ask  our 
fellow-citizens  whether  we  are  not  justifiable  in  op- 
posing a  system,  in  its  hostile  attempts  upon  our 
countr}^,  \vhich  has  uniformly  produced  such  fruits 
as  these.  But  we  are  willing  to  argue  the  question 
further,  and  we  be"^  them  candidly  to  weigrh  the  fol- 
lowing  considerations. 

1.  The  Church  of  Rome  is  a  state  as  well  as  a 
Church.  The  Pope,  who  impiously  styles  himself 
the  "  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,'"  claims  both  temporal 
and  spiritual  jurisdiction  over  the  whole  earth.  In 
proof  of  this  we  shall  cite  three  witnesses  out  of  a 
muhitude  who  stand  ready  to  confirm  it.  One 
of  these  is  Pope  Sixtus  V.  His  Bull  against  Henry 
King  of  Navarre,  and  the  Prince  of  Conde,  begins 
thus  :  "  The  authority  given  to  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors,  by  the  immense  power  of  the  Eternal 
King,  excels  all  the  jioivers  of  earthly  kings  and  princes 
— it  passes  uncontrollable  sentence  on  them  all — and 
if  it  finds  any  of  them  resisting  God's  ordinance,  it 
takes  more  severe  vengeance  of  them,  casting  them 
down  from  their  thrones,  though  never  so  puissant, 
and  tumbhng  them  down  to  the  lowest  parts  of  the 
earth,  as  the  ministers  of  a.spiring  Lucifer."  And 
then  he  proceeds — '-  We  deprive  them  and  their 
posterity  for  ever  of  their  dominions  and  lingdoms.''^ 

Our  second  witness  shall  be  Pope  Pius  V.  In  his 
Bull  against  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  which  he  pretends 
to  absolve  all  her  nobles  and  subjects  from  their 
allegiance  to  her,  he  affirms  that  God  has  constituted 
the  1  voman  Pontiff,  "  Prince  over  all  nations  and  all 


28 

kingdoms,  that  he  might  pluck  up,  destroy,  dissipate, 
ruinate,  plant,  and  build." 

Our  third  witness  shall  bo  Pope  Boniface  VIIL 
There  is  a  decree  of  his  in  the  canon  law  running- 
thus  :  "  We  declare,  say,  detine,  pronounce  it  to  be 
of  necessity  to  salcation,  for  every  human  creature  to 
be  sahject  to  the  Raman  Pontiffr-^ 

We  have  here  three  Popes  affirming  it  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  Papal  Hierarchy,  that  the  Roman 
Pontiff  is  ihe  lawful  temporal  sovereign  of  all 
kingdoms  and  nations.  And  that  this  pretension  is 
not  a  mere  flourish  of  words,  is  proved  by  the  whole 
history  of  Popery  down  to  the  period  at  which  it 
was  deprived  of  its  usurped  dominion  over  the 
European   States. 

2.  The  general  circulation  of  the  Bible  and  jwpular 
education,  are  regarded  by  all  true-hearted  American 
citizens,  as  essential  to  the  preservation  of  our  insti- 
tutions : — to  both  of  these,  Popery  is  opposed.  The 
4th  Rule  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Index,  directs^ 
that  no  Catholic  shall  own,  circulate,  or  read,  the 
Holy  Scriptures  without  permission  (in  writing)  from 
a  bishop  or  inquisitor.  This  mle  may  be  practically 
slighted  by  many  of  that  sect  in  this  country ;  but  it 
has  nearly  expelled  the  Bible  from  all  Popish  coun- 
tries. As  to  popular  education,  the  priesthood  may 
find  it  expedient  to  refrain  from  opposing  it  in  a  coun- 
try like  ours  where  the  people  rvill  have  schools.  But 
the  true  spirit  and  tendency  of  the  system  njay  be 
Scjen   in  the  deplorable    ignorance    which    prevails 

*  See  the  aiilhoriiies  for  these  quotations,  in  Barrow's  Treatise, 
(introductory  cha|iier)  where  the  reader  will  find  twenty  or  thirty 
pajjes  of  similar  e\iracis  from  the  decrees  of  Popes  and  the  writings  ot 
standard  Romish  authors.  Some  of  these  works  may  be  found  in  the 
PliUadelphia  Library. 


29 

among  the  peasantry  of  Italy,  Spain,  and  .other 
Popish  countries  ;  and  also  in  the  Indexes  Expurga- 
tonj  and  Prohibitory  of  the  Papal  See.  Can  a  system 
be  otherwise  than  hostile  to  our  true  national  inte- 
rests, and  to  the  improvement  of  man,  which  prohibits 
the  publication  or  reading  of  the  works  of  Algernon 
Sydney,  Addison,  Lord  Bacon,  Chief  Justice  Hale, 
John  Locke,  Milton,  liobertson,  Cowper,  Young,  and 
others  of  the  great  names  of  English  Literature? 
Such  are  the  writers  who  have  the  honor  to  be  reikis- 
tered  in  the  Prohibitory  index  of  Rome.  Are  the 
American  people  prepared  to  say  that  we  are  doing 
either  a  needless  or  an  unchristian  service,  in  resisting 
a  system  which,  if  it  had  the  power,  would  preclude 
them  from  reading  "Locke  on  the  Human  Under- 
standing," or  "Paradise  Lost"  without  permis- 
sion from  a  priest  ? 

3.  We  have  already  refuted  the  opinion  that 
Popery  has  c/icmr/e^  ;  and  showed  by  the  testimony 
of  the  present  Pope  that  now,  as  ever,  it  insists  upon 
doctrines  which  are  subversive  of  the  principles  on 
which  our  civil  and  religious  institutions  rest.  We 
beg  leave  in  connexion  with  this  tact  and  those  stated 
in  the  two  preceding  paragraphs,  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  another  prominent  and  startling  feature  of  the 
system.  The  system  has  a  Foreign  Head.  Its 
Bishops  owe  a  paramount  allegiance  to  the  Pope. 
All  ecclesiastical  appointments,  mcluding  those  of 
the  Pastors  of  their  churches,  emanate  directly  or 
indirectly  from  Rome.  And  as  the  power  of  the 
Rom'sh  priesthood  over  the  laity  is  proverbially 
greit,  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  w hole  body  of 
Roman  Catholics  in  this  country  may,  on  any  given 
political  or  ecclesiastical  question,  be  controlled  and 


30 

guided  by  a  secret  mandate  from  the  Vatican.  It 
does  not  belong  to  us  to  show  that  this  has  been 
done  in  any  case:  it  is  enough  that  we  show  that  it 
may  be  done.  We  maintain  that  it  would  be  unwise 
to  foster  an  organization  in  the  bosom  of  our  country, 
thus  dependent  upon  a  foreign  head,  even  if  the 
organization  were  of  a  purely  relijj^ious  character. 
But  when  we  consider  that  the  Pope  is  a  temjwral 
as  well  as  a  spiritual  sovereign  ;  tliat  all  his  affinities 
are  with  the  despotisms  of  the  old  world ;  that  he  has 
even  within  the  last  twelve  months  presumed  to  declare 
the  acts  of  one  of  the  European  Governments*  "null 
and  void  ;"  that  he  has  officially  denounced  principles 
which  are  int(vrwoven  with  all  our  civil  Constitutions; 
and  thatthe  subjection  of  the  ecclesiastics,  and,  through 
them,  of  the  mass  of  the  laity,  to  him,  is  implicit  and 
unquestioning, — when  we  consider  these  things,  we 
cannot  but  wonder  that  the  American  people,  who  are 
usually  so  jealous  of  foreign  interference,  should  look 
with  such  indifference  upon  the  effi)rts  of  this  formi- 
dable power  to  acquire  a  leading  influence  among  them. 
4.  If  an  arofument  af^ainst  the  "  Protestant  Associa- 
tion  "  is  still  drawn  from  the  relatively  small  number 
of  Roman  Catholics  in  the  United  States,  we  might 
reply,  tliat  our  controversy  is  with  the  system,  not  with 
the  individuals  who  adhere  to  it;  and  that  we  have 
proved  this  system  to  be  destructive  in  its  tendency, 
to  our  civil  ar^,d  relis-ious  riorhts :  so  that  we  are  called 
upon  as  patriots  and  Christians,  to  defend  our  insti- 
tutions against  it.  It  is  an  utter  mistake,  however,  to 
suppose  that  our  contest  is  merely  vrith  the  Popery 
which  vv-e  see  in  the  midst  of  us.  The  Pope  has, 
upwards     of    one     hundred     millions    of    subji'cts. 

*  Spain. 


31 

And  so  perfect  is  the  mechanism  of  the  comphcated 
system  he  controls,  that  he  can  with  faciUty  concen- 
trate the  resources  of  this  \ust  empire,  for  an  empire 
it  really  is,  and   apply  them  wherever  they  may  be 
most  needed.      The  six  or  seven  hundred  Romish 
ecclesiastics   in   this   country,    would   deserve   very 
little  notice  if  their  official   coimexion   with   their 
foreign  head,  was  severed.     But  they  are  of  some 
importance  when  viewed  as  the  agents  through  whom 
the  money  and  infiuence  of  Papal  Europe  are  to  be 
employed  for  propagating  Romanism  here.     This  is 
the  true  issue:  The  Protestants  of  the  United  States 
vs.  The  Papal  Hierarchy  with  its  hundred  millions 
of  foreign  subjects.     And  those  who  may  attempt  to 
awaken  sympathy  in  behalf  of  Popery  on  the  ground 
of  its  relative  weakness  in  this  country,  are  respect- 
fully requested  to   keep  the  real  issue,  as  we  have 
stated    it,   ia  view.      If  the   rich  Roman    Catholic 
nobles  of  Europe  and  their  degraded   vassals,  are 
uniting    in   great    associations    for  the    purpose   of 
proselyting  this  nation,  are  we  to  be  censured  for 
uniting  to  repel  this  rude  interference  of  foreigners  in 
our  affairs?     If  they  have  a  right  to  combine  in  this 
way,  is  our  right  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  coun- 
tervailing their  plans  less  indisputable  ?     If  they  have 
a  right  to  send    funds  here   to  plant  churches,  and 
endow  schools  and  colleges,  and  to  use  other  means 
to  make  prosel)  tes,  is  it  less  our  right  to  tear  the  mask 
from   their   system,   and   to   warn  our   countrymen 
against  their  insidious  arts?    And  if  they  have  a  right 
to  oppose  the  general  dissemination  of  the  Scriptures, 
and   to  make   bon-fires  of  the   word   of  God,  who 
shall  gainsay  our  right  to  circulate  the  Bible,  and 
to  admonish  our  fellow-citizens  that  all  attempts  to 


32 

abriclire  its  circulation,  go  to  open  the  flood-<rates  of 
vice  and  to  sap  the  foundations  of  the  Hcpubhc  ?* 

5.  Actuated  as  we  are  in  this  movement  by  a  sober 
conviction  of  duty,  we  are  not  to  be  diverted  from 
our  object  by  denunciation  or  abuse,  from  whatever 
source  it  may  emanate.     We  have  greatly  mistaken 
the  temper  of  our  Protestant  fellow-citizens,  if  they 
can  suffer  themselves  to  believe,  in  the  view  of  the 
facts  and  quotations  from  official  documents  presented 
in  this  address,  that  we   have   any  desire  to   injure 
the    Roman   Catholics  or  interfere  in   the   remotest 
degree  with  their  just  rights  and   privileges.     You 
will  demand,  as  we  do,  of  those  who  dissent  from  the 
views  we  have  advanced,   something  more   than   a 
flippant  denial  of  our  allegations  against  the  Church 
of  Rome,  or  a  tirade  of  opprobrious  epithets  against 
ourselves.     You  will  insist,  as  we  do,  that  the  advo- 
cates of  Popery,  to  vindicate  the  system   from   the 
charges  imbodied  in  this  address,  shall  be   able  to 
prove  by  the  acknowledged  standards  of  the  Romish 
Church  and  authentic  history,  that  Popery  is  not,  in 
its  tendency  and  design,  ''subversive  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  and  destructive  to  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  men."     And  if  they  concede  that  this  was  the 
character  of  the  system  formerly,  but  assert  that  it 
has  undergone  a  radical  change ;  you  will  not  rely 
upon   their   mere   affirmation,    but   require  them  to 
adduce  the  proofs  that  this  change  has  taken  place. — 
Until  one  or  the  other  of  these  propositions  is  esta- 
blished,  you  will  not,  we   feel  assured,  suffer  any 
appeal   to  your  prejudices   to   bias  your  judgment 
against  an  organization  which  aims  only   to  avert 

*  See  Appendix,  Note  C. 


sa 

from  our   country  the  countless  evils   which   have 
invariably  followed  the  triumphs  of  Popery. 

That  there  should  be  a  few  decided  Protestants 
who   think  that  the  discussion  of  this  subject  will 
only  defeat  its   own   end   by  exciting  sympathij  in 
lehalf  of  Romanism,   is    not   surprising.     If   this 
opinion   were   well    founded,  it   would    furnish   us 
with  the  strongest  possible  proof  that  the  Protestant- 
ism  of  our  day  has   grossly    degenerated  from  the 
Protestantism  of  the  Reformation.     For  there  was  a 
time  when   the   effect  of  such   discussions  was   to 
cement  the   hearts   of  Protestants   more   closely  to 
their  own  religion — when  they  were  in  no  danger  of 
being  perverted  to  Popery,  by  attending  to  a  faithful 
delineation  of  its  corruptions.     And  if  that  system 
cannot  be  touched,  even  with  the  hallowed  weapons 
of  the  Sanctuary — if  Christian  pastors  cannot  say  of 
it  now  what  the  Apostles  said  of  it  eighteen  hundred 
years    ago — if    the   ambassadors   of    Christ  cannot 
expound  his  own  word  in  its  prophetic  representations 
of  the  '  Man  of  sin', — without  awakening  the  sympa- 
thies of  people  who  call  themselves  Protestants,  in 
behalf  of  Antichrist ;  we  submit  whether  this  is  not 
an    alarming    evidence   of    the  ascendancy   which 
Rome   has  already   acquired   among   us.     And  we 
point  to  it  as  another  urgent  reason  why  the  country 
should  rouse  itself  to  this  subject  before  this  false 
liberality  has  paralyzed  the  church  and  consummated 
the  triumph  of  Popery. 

But  with  the  utmost  deference  to  those  from  whose 
views  we  dissent  on  this  point  and  whose  co-operation 
we  earnestly  desire,  we  cannot  believe  that  the  effect 
here  contemplated  will,  to  any  considerable  extent, 
follow  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  provided  the 


34 

discussion    be   coriducled   in   a   proper  spirit.     Tlie 
evidence  of  truth  is  always  greater  than  the  evidence 
of  error :  and  if  the  truth  be  brought  forward  on  a 
subject  Uke  this  with  candour  and  moderation,  people 
will  listen  to  it;  and  they  will  be  impressed  by  it. 
There  is  such  a  body  of  truth  to  he  presented  on 
every  feature  of  the  Papal  system,  that  it  cannot  fail 
of  producing  an  impression  upon  unbiassed  minds. 
It    is   a  favourite   but   shallow   device   of    Romish 
ecclesiastics  to  pretend  that  the  discussion  of  their 
principles  by  Protestant  ministers  or  presses,  con- 
tributes   to    their    success — a  pretext  which  it  is 
difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  strong  measures  they 
adopt  to   prevent   their  people  from  listening  to  or 
reading  these  discussions,  and  with  their  ill-concealed 
anxiety  and  irritation  whenever  the  subject  is  taken 
up  in  a  Protestant  pulpit.     Indeed,  to  affirm  that  a 
temperate  and  dignified  exposition  of  the  corruptions 
of  Popery,  will  tend  to  promote  it,  is,  in  our  view,  to 
say  that  the  diffusion  of  light  will  produce  darkness. 
Let  the  Protestant   Pastors   in  the   United   States 
explain  the  system  to  their  congregations,  and  let  the 
secular    press    unveil    its    political    bearings,    and 
Popery   will  do  any  thing   but   congratulate   itself 
on    the    results.    The    effect    would    be    to    form 
the   immense   body  of  Protestants  in   this  country 
into  a  solid  mass,  pervaded  with  an  enlightened  and 
genuine    Protestant    feehng,   which   would    be    an 
impregnable  barrier  to  the  general  dissemination  of 
Romanism.     Such   a  movement  we  have  as  much 
reason  to  desire,  as  the  Romanists  have  to  deprecate 
it : — and  we  are  persuaded  that  the  Protestants  to 
whom  we  have  alluded,  will  agree  with  us  in  this 
conclusion,  on  a  more  thorough  examination  of  the 
subject 


3d 

There  is  another  class  of  Protestants  who  deem  the 
discussion  of  Romanism  unwise,  because,  in  their 
judgment,  the  American  people  have  too  much 
intelligence  to  be  in  any  danger  from  the  attempts 
making  to  propagate  the  errors  of  Popery  in  this 
country.  But  this  is  a  delusion.  They  think  of 
transubstantiation,  and  the  worship  of  saints,  and 
purgatory,  and  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  other  Popish 
observances;  and  it  seems  to  them  incredible  that 
men  of  sense  can  ever  embrace  such  absurdities. 
They  are  wrong,  however.  The  glorious  attribute 
of  reason  with  w^hich  the  Creator  has  endowed  us, 
can,  since  the  fall,  be  perverted  to  any  service: 
there  is  no  proposition  in  ethics  or  religion,  too 
preposterous  or  too  horrible  to  be  embraced  by 
it.  And  in  the  case  under  consideration  the  process 
by  which  conviction  is  v/rought,  is  not  difficult  of 
solution.  Take  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation,  for 
example.  You  might  carry  it  round  the  world,  and 
stop  at  every  human  habitation  (beyond  the  pale  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  church,)  and  you  could 
not  get  a  single  man,  woman,  or  child,  to  believe 
it,  if  it  were  submitted  to  thein  on  its  own 
proper  evidence.  You  might  as  well  attempt  to 
convince  them  that  the  darkness  of  midnight  was 
the  effulgence  of  noon-day,  as  to  make  them  believe 
that  the  consecrated  wafer  you  v3xhibited  to  them 
was  the  "body  and  blood,  the  soul  and  divinity"  of 
Jesus   Christ*".     But  go  even  to  men  of  vigorous 

*  Tlie  Romish  catechism  "Revised  by  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Kenrick  and 
approved  for  the  use  of  the  Diocese  of  Philadelphia,  contains  these 
questions  and  answers : — 

"  Q.  Is  there  any  thing  under  the  form  of  bread,  but  the  body  of  Jesus 
Christ  1 


36 

minds  and  ripe  scholarship  and  convince  them  by  the 
subtle  sophistries  of  the  Popish  theologians,  that 
God  has  instituted  an  iyifallible  Church,  and  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  that  church ;  and  your  contest 
with  them  is  at  an  end.  They  will  believe  in  transub- 
stantiation  or  any  thing  else,  provided  the  church 
decrees  it.  The  infallibility  of  the  church  leaves  no 
room  for  investigation  and  makes  doubt  itself 
impiety.  What  right  has  reason  to  say,  "  This  is 
absurd  ?"  What  right  have  the  senses  to  say,  "  This 
belies  every  one  of  us  "  ?  The  voice  of  the  infallible 
Church  is  the  voice  of  God :  and  the  church 
declares,  this  w^afer  is  "  the  body  and  blood,  the  soul 
and  divinity,  yea,  the  whole  person  of  Jesus  Christ." 
There  is  no  place  for  reason  here.  There  is  no  place 
for  sense.  Both  must  submit,  not  only  without 
examining,  but  without  questioning,  to  that  power 
which  cannot  err,  and  from  whose  decisions  there  is 
no  appeal. 

This  view  is  confirmed  by  the  well-known  fact 
that  there  are  individuals  in  the  communion  of  the 
Papal  church,  as  distinguished  for  intellectual 
acumen,  as  any  among  the  Protestant  denominations. 
— We  are  constrained  to  believe,  therefore,  that  those 
Protestants  err,  who  rely  upon  the  general  intel- 
ligence of  our  citizens  (except  as  it  may  be  blended 
with  a  pure  religious  sentiment,)  as  an  adequate 
safeguard  against  the  dangerous  increase  of  Roman- 
ism in  our  country, 

"A.  There  is  also  there  his  blood,  his  soul,  his  divinity,  in  short  the 
whole  person  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  Q.  Does  he  who  receives  but  one  part  of  the  host,  or  but  one  form, 
receive  .Tesus  Christ  whole  and  entire? 

''A.  Yes:  because  Jesus  Christ  is  whole  under  each  form,  and  under 
each  part  of  the  forms."  (pp.  49,  50:  ed.  of  1839.) 


37 

If  the  propriety  of  discussing  the  subject  of 
Popery  is  conceded,  there  may  still  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  among  Protestants,  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy  we  have  adopted.  Some  who  are  with  us  in 
principle,  may  suppose  that  associated  action  is 
more  likely  to  increase  than  abate  the  diffusion  of 
Popery.  This  opinion,  we  deem  it  proper  to  state, 
has  been  very  prevalent  hitherto  among  the 
individuals  who  now  compose  the  "  American  Protes- 
tant Association."  Nearly  all  the  officers  and 
managers  of  the  Association^  have,  until  recently, 
regarded  the  organization  of  Societies  for  the  purpose 
of  (ypposing  Romanism,  as  uncalled  for  and  unwise. 
But  we  found  that  while  we  were  refraining  from 
any  united  action,  lest  it  might  indirectly  tend  to 
foster  Popery,  Popery  was  spreading  with  great 
rapidity.  We  found  that  few  Christian  Pastors 
among  those  who  disapproved  of  a  combined  effort, 
would  take  the  trouble  or  responsibility  of  opposing 
it  in  their  individual  capacity.  We  found  that  the 
Pastors  who  did  come  forward  to  instruct  their 
congregations  on  this  subject,  had  more  to  apprehend 
from  the  opposition  of  Protestants,  and,  in  some  in- 
stances, of  Protestant  Ministers,  than  from  Popery  itself 
We  found  that  the  apathy  of  the  public  mind,  was 
with  some  local  exceptions,  unbroken ;  and  that 
studious  efforts  were  making  to  produce  the  impres- 
sion that  all  discussion  of  Romanism  in  the  pulpit  or 
through  the  press,  was  prompted  by  a  spirit  of 
"  persecution."  We  found  that  the  sentiment  was 
diffusing  itself  through  the  land  that  the  Popery  of 
our  day  and  our  country,  was  essentially  modified 
from  the  Popery  of  old.  We  found  that  Popish 
Schools  and  Charities  were  constantly  gaining  upon 


38 

the  confidence  of  unsuspecting  and  benevolent 
Protestants.  We  found  that  the  Romish  Priesthood 
were  growmg  bolder  and  bolder  in  their  pretensions; 
and  that  the  public  would  tolerate,  if  not  justify,  them 
in  attempts  to  control  the  political  elections  and 
to  expel  the  Bible  from  the  common  schools,  which 
even  ten  years  ago,  they  would  have  frovv^ned  upon 
and  rebuked  with  energy  and  spirit.  We  found  that 
there  were  no  adequate  funds  employed  to  disseminate 
publications  adapted  to  enlighten  our  citizens  as  to 
the  real  character  and  history  of  the  Church  of 
Rome — a  work  the  more  important,  as  that  Church 
has  never  been  seen  in  the  United  States  in  its  true 
colours.  And  we  found  that  the  great  argument 
which  Romanists  were  using  to  ensnare  and 
proselyte  inexperienced  Protestants,  was,  that  their 
church  was  one,  while  Protestants  were  divided 
among  themselves  and  had  no  common  bond  of 
union. 

All  these  things,  we  found,  were  going  on,  while 
we  were  doing  little  or  nothing  as  individuals,  and 
standing  aloof  from  associated  action  lest  peradven- 
ture,  if  we  came  together  to  oppose  it,  Popery  might 
begin  to  increase!  We  could  hesitate  no  longer. 
We  felt  that  the  providence  of  God  had  decided  the 
question  of  duty  for  us.  We  determined  to  despoil 
Rome  of  at  least  one  argument  against  Protestantism, 
and  to  show  her  that  however  Protestants  may,  in 
the  exercise  of  that  glorious  privilege,  of  which 
Popery  would  deprive  them,  the  privilege  of  thinking 
for  themselves,  differ  from  each  other  on  minor 
points,  there  was  one  platform  on  which  we  could  all 
stand — THE  Bible,  the  whole  Bible,  and  nothing 
BUT  the  Bible,  as  the  only  infallible  rule  or 


39 

FAITH  AND  PRACTICE ;  and  OQC  cause  m  which  we 
could  all  unite — the  cause  of  Christ  against  Anti- 
christ. 

The  methods  by  which  we  propose  to  resist  the 
progress  of  Popery,  are  defined  in  the  2d.  Art.  of 
our  Constitution,  already  quoted.     We  believe  that, 
all  that  is  necessary,  under  Providence,  to  check  the 
advances  of  this  system  in  our  country,  is  to  disse^ni- 
nate  truth — to  enlighten  the  public  mind  as  to  its 
character  bv  testimonies  drawn  from  its  own  standard 
works,  its  history,  and  the  Word  of  God.     Knowing 
that  Popery   and   the   Bible  cannot  long  co-exist  in 
the  same  country,  we  propose  to  aid,  as  we  have  the 
ability,   in    circulating   and   promoting   a  thorough 
study   of  the   Holy  Scriptures.     We  propose,  with 
the  same   view,   to   '-'disseminate   other   books  and 
tracts   adapted   to   give   information   on  the  various 
errors   of   Popery  in   their   history,   tendency,   and 
design."     Another   cardinal  object  with  us  is  "  the 
union  and  encouragement  of  Protestant  Ministers  of 
the   Gospel,  to  give  to  their  several  congregations 
instruction  on  the  differences  between  Protestantism 
and    Popery."     There   is,   under   God,   no   agency 
on  which  we   relv  more  than   this.     The  Pastoral 
office  is  a  Divine  ordinance.  And  it  is  part  of  the  legit- 
imate business  of  a  Pastor,  to  instruct  his  people  on 
the  subject  of  the  great  apostacy.     The  Apostle  tells 
us,  by  implication  at  least,  (see  1  Tim.  4:6.)  that 
those  Pastors  who  refuse  to  do  it,  are  not  "  good  min- 
isters of  Jesus  Christ."      If  the  fifteen  or  eighteen 
thousand  Protestant  Ministers  in  the  United  States, 
would  take  this  subject  into  their  pulpits,  and  in  a 
kind  and  Christian  spirit  make  their  congregations 
fully  acquainted  with  it  as  they  find  it  drawn  out  by 
the  inspired  writers,  and  elucidated  by  history,  the 


40 

sanguine  hopes  of  Popery  in  regard  to  this  country 
would  be  blasted. 

We  design  that  our  labours  shall  be  conducted 
without  rashness  or  asperity.  It  is  no  part  of  our 
plan  to  deal  in  denunciations  or  personalities.  We 
wish  to  produce  no  unnecessary  excitement.  We 
feel  deeply  for  the  great  mass  of  the  Roman  Catholics. 
We  believe  that  they  are  led  captive  by  a  system  they 
do  not  understand — a  system  many  of  whose  vital 
principles  they  are  profoundly  ignorant  of,  and  with 
whose  blood-stained  history  they  are  as  little  conver- 
sant as  they  are  with  the  glorious  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  It  is  "our  hearts'  desire  and 
prayer  to  God"  that  they  may  be  rescued  from 
their  delusions.  And  we  feel  that  in  attempting 
to  unveil  their  church,  and  exhibit  her  as  she  is 
drawn  by  the  pencil  of  inspiration  and  by  her  own 
standard  authors,  we  are  taking  the  most  effective 
measures  to  promote  their  good  as  well  as  the  pros- 
perity of  our  country  and  of  pure  Christianity. 

In  this  work,  we  solicit  the  co-operation  of  our 
fellow-citizens. 

W^e  especially  commend  the  facts  and  arguments 
imbodied  in  this  address,  to  the  consideration  of  the 
large  and  intelligent  body  of  men  connected  with  the 

COMMERCIAL  AND  LITERARY  PRESS  of  OUr  COUntry.     We 

have  adverted  to  the  aid  which  Popery  has  derived 
from  their  silence,  on  occasions  which  would,  as  we 
think,  have  justified  them  in  rebuking  with  severity 
its  officious  intermeddling  with  political  questions. 
We  are  not  willing  to  believe  that  Protestant  editors 
in  a  Protestant  land,  who  are  mainly  supported  by 
Protestant  readers,  designedly  lend  their  influence 
to  the  propagation  of  Popery.  We  are  convinced 
that  many  at  least  of  these  gentlemen,  have  not  found 


41 

leisure  lo  acquaint  themselves  with  this  system,  and 
that  instead  of  regarding  the  Church  of  Rome  as  a 
great  ^oZzVzco-ecclesiastical  body  which  claims  unUmi- 
ted  iempwal  as  well  as  spiritual  dominion,  and  which 
prophecy  and  history  have  delineated  as  destructive 
to  the  welfare  alike  of  states  and  of  individuals,  they 
have  been  accustomed  to  consider  it  simply  as  a 
Christian  Church  challenging  to  itself  no  higher 
powers  than  are  claimed  by  Protestant  Churches, 
and  differing  from  them  only  as  they  differ  from  one 
another.  We  need  not,  after  what  we  have  said 
already,  assure  them  that  this  is  entirely  to  mistake 
the  character  of  the  Papacy.  We  ask  them  to  investi- 
gate the  subject  for  themselves ;  and  if  they  find  that 
our  estimate  of  Popery  is  a  just  one,  we  think  we 
have  a  right  to  expect  their  assistance  in  repelling 
its  aggressions.  We  do  not  invite  them  into  the 
arena  of  theological  controversy :  the  theological 
aspect  of  the  question,  can  be  managed  by  other 
hands.  But  we  do  invite  them  to  watch  \he  political 
developments  of  the  system.  We  respectfully,  but 
firmly,  call  upon  them  to  resist  every  attempt  which 
this  foreign  power  may  make  to  interfere  with  the 
civil  rights  of  the  American  people.  This  service 
hes  within  their  legitimate  sphere,  and  the  Protestants 
of  this  country  will  look  to  them  for  the  performance 
of  it 

We  appeal  however,  to  no  one  class  exclusiveiy. 
We  request  our  countrymen  generally  to  co-operate 
with  us.  If  you  approve  of  our  constitution,  we  hope 
you  will  adopt  it  as  the  basis  of  social  organizations  in 
your  respective  towns  and  neighbourhoods.  If  you 
do  not,  we  trust  you  will  unite  on  some  other  basis. 
That  you  ca7i  unite,  our  own  example  shows      We 


4^ 

came  together  without  any  previous  interchange  of 
sentiment,  from  nearly  every  Protestant  denomination 
in  this  community ;  and,  under  the  guidance,  as  we 
believe,  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  we  united 
cordially  and  heartily  for  the  defence  of  our  common 
Christianity.  We  are  convinced  that  you  can  do  the 
same ;  for  there  is  broad  common  ground  on  which 

WE  CAN  ALL  MEET  WITHOUT  COMPROMISING  OURDENOMI- 
NATIONAL  PRINCIPLES  OR  PREFERENCES.      We  feel  that 

the  movement  is  one  which  is  entitled  to  your  support. 
We  invoke  your  fervent  prayers  in  its  behalf  and  in 
behalf  of  all  the  great  interests  of  Protestantism.  And 
we  submit  it  to  your  consideration  whether  the  signs 
of  the  times  do  not  call  upon  all  Protestants  to  unite  in 
opposing  the  hostile  aggressions  of  the  '  Man  of  sin.' 
Our  own  association  embraces  a  large  proportion  of 
the  Protestant  clergy  of  the  city  and  county  of  Phila- 
delphia, and,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  will 
soon  include  several  thousand  laymen.  We  have 
given  it  a  national  designation :  but  we  shall  not  in- 
sist upon  its  being  regarded  as  a  parent  society,  to 
which  others  shall  be  auxiliary.  We  are  willing,  if 
it  shall  be  deemed  best,  to  take  our  place  as  one  of 
a  sisterhood  of  affiliated  societies,  clothed  with  co- 
ordinate powers,  or  to  merge  our  organization  in 
another,  to  be  heareafter  formed  by  a  convention  of 
delegates  from  Protestant  Associations  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  All  we  desire  is  to  see  the 
Protestant  interest  of  the  country  united  in  a  peace- 
ful, enlightened,  and  vigorous  opposition  to  the 
aggressive  movements  of  the  Papal  Hierarchy  against 
the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  United  States. 

THE    END. 


APPENDIX. 

Note  A. 

HrxE,  ihe  historian,  draws  this  portraiture  of  the  Jesuits,  in  a 
single  sentence.  "  By  the  %-ery  nature  of  their  institution,"  he  ob- 
serves, "they  were  engaged  to  pervert  learning;  to  refine  awav  the 
plainest  dictates  of  morality ;  and  to  erect  a  regular  system  of  casuis- 
try, by  which  prevarication,  perjury,  and  every  crime,  where  it 
served  their  ghostly  purposes,  might  be  justified  and  defended." 
Xot  long  after  the  order  was  founded,  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
authorities  of  France,  declared  that  its  members  were  "  disturbers 
of  the  peace,"  and  that  the  ''society  was  dansferous  to  the  Christian 
faith,  and  more  fitted  to  corrupt  than  to  edify."  •'  So  atrocious,  ex- 
tensive, and  continual  were  their  crimes  at  a  later  period,  that  they 
were  expelled,  either  partially  or  wholly,  from  the  different  conn- 
tries  of  Europe,  at  various  intervals,  thirty-nine  times — a  fact 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  other  body  of  men  ever  known  in 
the  world.*'*  And  yet  a  studied  effort  is  now  making  to  familiarize 
the  American  people  with  the  name  of  Jesuit,  and  to  get  them  to 
believe  the  monstrous  proposition,  in  the  face  of  the  solemn  official 
acts  of  all  the  governments  of  Europe,  and  the  unanimous  verdict  of 
the  civilized  world,  that  the  Jesuits  were  an  honorable,  virtuous,  and 
useful  fraternity  I — The  "  Metropolitan  Catholic  Almanac"  for  1841, 
states  that  "  the  Jesuits  have  a  Xovitiatc  in  Maryland,  Kentucky, 
and  Missouri;  colleges  in  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Louisiana, 
and  Ohio ;  and  serve  various  missions  throughout  the  country." 

In  the  view  of  these  facts,  it  may  be  well  for  the  American  peo- 
ple, to  examine  the  following  oath.  It  is  taken  from  a  collection  of 
papers  bv  Archbishop  Usher,  who  describes  it  as  the  "Oath  of 
Secrecy  devised  by  the  Roman  clergy,  as  it  remaineth  on  record  at 
Paris,  among  the  Society  of  Jesus."  The  antiquated  form,  which 
is  of  similar  import,  can  be  found  in  Baronius,  who  thus  concludes 
his  account  of  it.  "  Hactenus  juramentum.  <L'c.  That  is  the  oath 
which  to  that  period  all  the  Prelates  used  to  take."  An.  72.3,  and 
1079.  Lab.  Council,  Tom.  10,  Page  1504;  and  Tom.  11,  Page 
1.565. 

Jesuit's  oath  of  secrecy. 

•'  I.  A.  B.,  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God 
the  blessed   Virgin  Mary,  the  blessed   Michael,  the 

*  niastrations  of  Poperv.  p.  .34P. 


44  APPENDIX. 

archangel,  the  blessed  St.  John  Baptist,  the  Holy 
apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  the  Saints  and 
Sacred  Host  of  heaven,  and  to  you  my  ghostly  father, 
do  declare  from  my  heart,  without  mental  reservation, 
that  his  holiness  Pope  Urban  is  Christ's  vicar-general, 
and  is  the  true  and  only  head  of  the  Catholic  or  Uni- 
versal Church  throughout  the  earth ;  and  that  by  vir- 
tue of  the  keys  of  binding  and  loosing  given  to  his 
holiness  by  my  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power 
to  depose  heretical  kings,  princes,  states,  common- 
wealths, and  governments,  all  being  illegal,  without 
his  sacred  confirmation,  and  that  they  may  safely  be 
destroyed  :  therefore  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  I  shall 
and  will  defend  this  doctrine,  and  his  Holiness'  rights 
and  customs  against  all  usurpers  of  the  heretical  or 
Protestant  authority  whatsoever:  especially  against 
the  now  pretended  authority  and  Church  of  England, 
and  all  adherents  in  regard  that  they  and  she  be  usur- 
pal  and  heretical,  opposing  the  sacred  mother  church 
of  Rome.  I  do  renounce  and  disown  any  allegiance  as 
due  to  any  heretical,  king,  prince,  or  state,  named  Pro- 
testants,or  obedience  to  any  of  their  inferior  magistrates 
or  officers.  I  do  further  declare,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  England,  of  the  Calvinists,  Hugonots,  and  of 
others  of  the  name  of  Protestants,  to  be  damnable,  and 
they  them selv-es  are  damned, and  to  be  damned,that  will 
not  forsake  the  same.  I  do  further  declare,  that  I  will 
help,  assist,  and  advise  all,  or  any  of  his  Holiness' 
agents  in  any  place,  wherever  I  shall  be,  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  or  in  any  other  territory  or 
kingdom,  I  shall  come  to  ;  and  do  my  utmost  to  extir- 
pate the  heretical  Protestants'  doctrine,  and  to  destroy 
all  their  pretended  powers,  regal  or  otherwise.  I  do 
further  promise  and  declare,  that  notwithstanding  I 
am  dispensed  with  to  assume  any  religion  heretical 


A.PPENDIX.  45 

for  the  propagation  of  the  mother-churches'  interest, 
to  keep  secret  and  private  all  her  agent's  counsels  from 
time  to  time,  as  they  intrust  me,  and  not  to  divulge 
directly  or  indirectly,  by  word,  wiiting,  or  circum- 
stance, whatsoever ;  but  to  execute  all  what  shall  be 
proposed,  given  in  charge,  or  discovered  unto  me  by 
you  my  ghostly  father,  or  any  of  this  sacred  convent. 
All  which  I,  A.  B.,  do  swear  by  the  blessed  Trinity, 
and  blessed  Sacrament,  which  I  am  low  to  receive,  to 
perform,  and  on  my  part  to  keep  inviolably.  And  do 
call  all  the  heavenly  and  glorious  hosts  of  heaven  to  wit- 
ness these  my  real  intentions,  and  to  keep  this  my  oath. 
In  testimony  hereof,  I  take  this  most  aoly  and  blessed 
sacrament  of  the  Eucharist :  and  witness  the  same  fur- 
ther with  my  hand  and  seal  in  the  face  of  this  holy 
convent." — Foxes  and  Firebrands.     Usher. 

Note  B. 

We  quote  here  in  full,  the  oath  taken  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
Bishops  at  their  consecration.  We  find  the  following  translation  of 
it,  "  as  it  is  extant  in  the  Roman  Pontifical,"  in  Barrow's  treatise  on 
the  Supremacy  of  the  Pope.  Barrow  pertinently  remarks, — "  such 
is  the  oath  prescribed  to  Bishops,  the  which  is  worth  the  most 
serious  attention  of  all  men,  who  would  understand  how  miserably 
slavish  the  condition  of  the  clergy  is  in  that  Church,  and  how  incon- 
sistent their  obligation  to  the  Pope  is  with  their  duty  to  their  Prince." 
— We  request  the  readers  of  this  pamphlet,  to  ponder  the  terms  of 
this  oath  in  connection  with  the  observations  in  the  Address,  respect- 
ing the  Papal  system  in  the  United  States,  as  a  system  having  a 
foreign  head. 

bishop's  oath. 

*  I.  N.  elect  of  the  Church  of  N.  from  hencefor- 
ward will  be  faithful  and  be  obedient  to  St.  Peter  the 
Apostle,  and  to  the  holy  Roman  Church,  and  to  our 
lord,  the  lord  N.  Pope  N.  and  to  his  successors,  can- 

♦  For  the  origin  of  this  oath  see  Villers  on  the  Reformation. — page  84. 


46  APPENDIX. 

onically  coming  o.  I  will  neither  advise,  consent,  or 
do  any  thing  that  they  may  lose  life  or  member,  or  that 
their  persons  may  be  seized,  or  hands  anywise  laid 
lipon  them,  or  any  injuries  offered  to  them,  under  any 
pretence  whatsoerer.  The  counsel  which  they  shall 
intrust  me  withal,  by  themselves,  their  messengers,  or 
letters,  I  will  not  knowingly  reveal  to  any  to  their  pre- 
judice. /  will  heip  them  to  defend  and  keep  the  Ro- 
man Papacy,  and  all  the  royalties  of  St.  Peter,  saving 
my  order,  against  xU  men.  The  legate  of  the  apostolic 
see,  going  and  coming,  I  will  honorably  treat  and  help 
in  his  necessities.  The  rights,  honors,  privileges,  and 
authority  of  the  holy  Roman  Church,  of  our  lord  the 
Pope,  and  his  aforesaid  successors,  I  will  endeavor  to 
preserve,  defend,  increase,  and  advance.  I  will  not 
be  in  any  counsel,  action,  or  treaty,  in  which  shall 
be  plotted  against  our  said  lord,  and  the  said  Roman 
Church,  any  thing  to  the  hurt  or  prejudice  of  their 
persons,  right,  honor,  state,  or  power ;  and  if  I  shall 
know  any  such  thing  to  be  treated  or  agitated,  by  any 
whatsoever,  I  will  hinder  it  to  my  power  ;  and  as  soon 
as  I  can  will  signify  it  to  our  said  lord,  or  to  some 
other,  by  whom  it  may  come  to  his  knowledge.  The 
rules  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  the  apostolic  decrees,  ordi- 
nances, or  disposals,  reservations,  provisions,  and  man- 
dates, I  will  observe  with  all  my  might,  and  cause  to 
be  observed  by  others.  Heretics,  schismatics,  and 
rebels  to  our  said  lord,  or  his  foresaid  successors,  I 
will  to  my  power  persecute  and  oppose.  I  will  come  to 
a  council  when  I  am  called,  unless  I  be  hindered  by 
a  canonical  impediment.  I  will  by  myself  in  person 
visit  the  threshold  of  the  Apostles  every  three  years ; 
and  give  an  account  to  our  lord  and  his  foresaid  suc- 
cessors of  all  my  pastoral  office,  and  of  all  things  any 


APPENDIX.  47 

wise  belonging  to  the  state  of  my  Church,  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  my  clergy  and  people,  and  hstly  to  the  sal- 
vation of  souls  committed  to  my  trust  ^and  will  in  like 
manner  humbly  receive  and  diligenjly  execute  the 
apostolic  commands.  And  if  I  be  defined  by  a  law- 
ful impediment,  I  will  perform  all  the  things  aforesaid 
by  a  certain  messenger  hereto  specials  empowered,  a 
member  of  my  chapter,  or  some  other  p  ecclesiastical 
dignity,  or  else  having  a  parsonage ;  Dr  in  default  of 
those,  by  a  priest  of  the  diocess  ;  or  ii  default  of  one 
of  the  clergy  [of  the  diocess]  by  some  other  secular  or 
regular  priest  of  approved  integrity  and  religion,  fully 
instructed  in  all  things  above-mentionei.  And  such 
impediment  I  will  make  out  by  lawfu.  proofs  to  be 
transmitted  by  the  foresaid  messenger  to  :he  cardinal 
proponent  of  the  holy  Roman  Church  in  the  congre- 
gation of  the  sacred  council.  The  possessions  belong- 
ing to  my  table  I  will  neither  sell,  nor  give  away,  nor 
mort^aore,  nor  g-rant  anew  in  fee,  nor  anvwise  alien- 
ate,  not  even  with  the  consent  of  the  chapter  of  my 
Church,  without  consulting  the  Roman  Pontiff.  And 
if  I  shall  make  any  alienation,  I  will  thereby  incur  the 
penalties  contained  in  a  certain  constitution,  put  forth 
about  this  matter.  So  help  me  God  and  these  holy 
Gospels  of  God." — Barrows'  Supremacy  of  the  Pope, 
pages  136,  137.  Hughes'  Edition. 

Note  C. 

How  little  American  feeling  there  is  in  the  efforts  of  Romish 
ecclesiastics  and  their  foreign  allies,  to  expel  the  Bible  from  our 
common  schools  and  restrict  its  general  circulation,  may  be  seen 
froiB  the  measures  adopted  by  the  Old  Congress — by  the  men,  who 
under  God,  laid  the  foundation  of  our  institutions — for  supplying 
the  country  with  the  Holy  Scriptures.  It  is  refreshing  to  read,  in 
ihese  times,  a  record  like  the  following,  drawn  from  the  minutes  of 
that  illustrious  bodv. 


48  APPENDIX. 

While  the  war  iiterdicted  our  commerce  with  Great  Britain,  and 
the  arts  were  as  jrjt  in  a  feeble  state  in  this  country,  Bibles  were 
greatly  needed,  am  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  they  could 
be  procured.  A  Committee  of  Congress  was,  therefore,  appointed 
in  1777,  to  confer  vith  the  printers  about  striking  ofl'  an  edition  of 
thirty  thousand  BiHes  at  the  public  expense.  The  committee  found 
that  it  would  be  'ery  difficult  to  obtain  the  necessary  type  and 
paper,  and  recomnended — "  the  use  of  the  Bible  being  so  universal 
and  its  importance  so  great" — that  the  Committee  of  Commerce 
should  be  directed  o  import  at  the  expense  of  Congress,  "  twenty 
thousand  English  libles  from  Holland,  Scotland,  or  elsewhere,  into 
the  different  ports  of  the  States  of  the  Union :" — and  Congress 
ordered  the  imporUtion.  In  1780,  when  "from  the  circumstances 
of  the  war,  an  English  Bible  could  not  be  imported,  and  no  opinion 
could  be  formed  hew  long  the  obstruction  might  continue,"  Con- 
gress again  resumed  the  consideration  of  printing  the  Bible,  and  the 
matter  was  referred  to  a  committee.  An  individual  was  found  who 
would  undertale  ihe  work,  and  in  1782,  Congress  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  three  .o  attend  to  the  edition  contemplated  by  Robert  Aitkin, 
of  Philadelphia.  The  committee,  "  having  attended  to  the  progress 
of  the  work,  and  engaged  the  assistance  of  the  chaplains  of  Congress," 
it  was,  thereupon,  "  Resolved,  That  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  highly  approve  the  pious  and  laudable  undertaking,  as 
subservient  to  the  interests  of  religion ;  and  being  satisfied  of  the 
care  and  accuracy  in  the  execution  of  the  work,  recommend  this  edi- 
tion of  the  Bible  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States." 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  first  edition  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  in 
English,  published  in  the  United  States.  Were  the  patriots  who 
composed  that  Congress,  right  in  employing  their  official  authority, 
to  provide  the  people  with  the  Bible?  If  they  were,  what  are  we  to 
think  of  the  Papal  Hierarchy,  which  has  driven  the  Bible  from 
popular  circulation  in  every  land  subjected  to  its  iron  yoke,  and 
which  would,  if  possible,  prevent  any  American  citizen  fiom  reading 
it  without  a  written  license  from  a  Popish  Bishop  or  Inquisitor ! 
(See  4th  rule  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Index. 


2:hc  ^'crijJturc  .godrine  of  |lciranls. 


A    SERMON 


PREACHED    AT 


I     THE  HOUSE  OF  REFUGE,  PHILADELPHIA, 


Sunday,  October  27,  7867, 


OCCASION  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  SHIPPEX,  M.D. 


By  henry  a.  BOARDMAN,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

HENRY    B.  ASHMEAD,    BOOK   AND    JOB    PRINTER, 
Nos.  1102  ASD  1104  Sassom  Stbebt. 

1867. 


CORRESPONDEJN^CE. 


AtHEN^UM    BriLDIXG, 

Kovember  1,  1867. 
Reveki:>t)  a>t)  Dear  Sib  : — 

I  am  instructed  by  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  House  of  Refuge, 
to  communicate  to  you  the  enclosed  Resolutions,  expressing  their  thanks 
to  you,  for  your  kindness  in  complying  with  their  \dshes,  in  delivering 
the  able  and  interesting  discourse  at  the  House  of  Refuge,  on  Sunday  last, 
on  the  death  of  Dr.  William  Shippen  ;  and  requesting  of  you  a  copy  of 
your  Sermon,  for  publication. 

Tour  again  acceding  to  the  -wishes  of  the  Managers,  \dll  be  very 
gratifying  to  them. 

I  remain,  Reverend  and  Dear  Sir, 

With  great  regard,  Yours, 

James  J.  Barclay, 
Chairman,  Board  of  Managers,  House  of  Refuge. 

Rev.  Henrt  A.  Boardmax,  D.D. 


At  a  Stated  Meeting  of  the  Board  o;'  Managers  of  the  HorsE  of 
Refcge,  held  October  31,  1867,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted, 
viz : — 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Board  be,  and  they  are  hereby  cordi- 
ally tendered  to  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.D.,  for  the  eloquent  and 
impressive  Sermon  preached  by  him  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
Board,  on  Sunday  afternoon,  the  27th  day  of  October,  1867,  at  the  House 
of  Refuge,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  William  Shippen. 

Eesolted,  That  Dr.  Boardman  be,  and  is  hereby  requested,  to  furnish  a 
copy  of  his  Sermon  for  publication. 

G.  M.  Troutman, 

Assistant  Secretary. 


1311  Spruce  Street, 
November  4,  1867. 
My  Dear  Sir  — 

In  reply  to  your  friendly  note  and  the  very  kind  Resolutions  of  your 
Board,  I  have  only  to  say,  that  my  Sermon  vras  written  without  the  slight- 
est reference  to  publication,  but  I  cheerfully  place  the  MS.  at  your  dis- 
posal. I  have  ventured  to  retain  certain  paragraphs  which  were  omitted 
in  the  delivery. 

I  am,  Dear  Sir,  with  great  respect. 
Very  truly  yours, 

H.    A.    BOARDMAN. 

James  J.  Barclay,  Esq., 

Chairman,  Sfc. 


SERMON. 


"Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  or  the  least  of  these  my 

BRETHREN,  YE  HAVE  DONE  IT  UNTO  ME." — Matt.  XXV.  40. 

This  verse  occurs  in  the  most  minute  and  graphic  ac- 
count of  the  last  Judgment  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures. 
Tou  will  instantly  recognize  in  it,  the  language  addressed 
by  our  Saviour  to  the  righteous  who  are  standing  at  his 
right  hand.  After  saying  to  them,  "  Come  ye  blessed 
of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,"  He  specifies  various  friendly 
offices  which  they  have  rendered  him ;  and  to  this  they 
reply,  "  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered  and  fed 
thee?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink?  When  saw  we 
thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  ?  or  naked,  and  clothed 
thee  ?  Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick  or  in  prison  and  came 
unto  thee  ?  And  the  King  shall  answer  and  say  unto 
them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me." 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  dwell  on  the  sublime  transac- 
tion which  this  passage  brings  so  vividly  before  us,  ex- 
cept in  one  of  its  features.  We  may  deduce  from  it 
some  important  information  respecting  The   Scripture 


6 

Doctrine  of  Rewards  ;  and  this,  in  turn,  may  aid  us  in 
disposing  of  questions  of  present  duty. 

What,  then,  is  the  iwinciple  on  tvhich  the  rewards  of  the 
last  day  will  he  distributed^ 

On  this  question  there  is  a  very  great  diversity  of 
opinion.  The  sentiment  is  a  very  common  one  that  men 
are  to  be  rewarded  for  their  virtues,  precisely  as  they 
are  to  be  punished  for  their  vices :  that  their  good  deeds 
are  to  be  put  in  one  scale,  and  their  bad  deeds  in  the 
other,  and  the  balance  struck  between  them.  This 
theory  assumes  that  men  are  by  nature  able  to  perform 
"  good  deeds,"  i.e.,  deeds  that  are  "  good  "  or  holy  in  the 
sight  of  God.  There  are  those  who  go  even  further  than 
this,  and  maintain  that  renewed  persons  are  able  not 
only  to  keep  the  law  of  God  perfectly,  but  to  transcend 
its  demands  and  perform  works  of  supererogation — as 
though  it  were  possible  for  a  creature  to  exceed  the  re- 
quisitions of  a  law  which  runs  in  these  terms,  "  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  The  Bible  plainly  teaches  that 
we  can  do  nothing  to  merit  the  Divine  favor ;  nothing  to 
entitle  ourselves  to  a  reward  at  his  hands.  But  what 
we  are  not  able  to  win  by  our  own  performances,  is  be- 
stowed as  a  matter  of  grace.  "  The  wages  of  sin  is 
death ;  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  Death  is  not  a  gratuity  :  it  is  earned. 
It  is  our  "wages," — the  just  desert  of  sin.  But  eternal 
life  is  a  gratuity — the  free  and  sovereign  "  gift  of  God." 
"  Free  and  sovereign"  as  regards  us,  though  conveyed  to 


the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  Representative  and  Surety, 
for  the  benefit  of  his  people,  as  the  promised  recompense 
of  his  sufferings.  On  the  ground  of  his  vicarious  obe- 
dience and  death,  whereby  the  law  was  not  only  satisfied 
but  magnified,  the  faith  and  love  and  sincere  though  im- 
perfect works  of  his  followers,  are  accepted  and  even 
rewarded.  "  Ye  are  a  holy  priesthood  to  offer  up  spirit- 
ual sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ." 
"Whosoever  shall  give  you  a  cup  of  water  to  drink  in 
my  name,  because  ye  belong  to  Christ,  verily  I  say  unto 
you,  he  shall  not  lose  his  reward." 

While  these  rewards  are  conferred  on  the  ground  of 
Christ's  merits  and  not  for  our  works,  they  are  gradu- 
ated according  to  our  works.  The  joys  and  honors  of 
the  celestial  state  will  bear  a  proportion  to  the  attain- 
ments of  his  people  in  holiness,  and  their  labors  and 
sacrifices  in  the  cause  of  Christ  in  this  world.  The  same 
principle  obtains  here  as  in  the  pursuits  of  husbandry. 
"  He  which  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap  also  sparingly ; 
and  he  which  soweth  bountifully,  shall  reap  also  bounti- 
fully." This  does  not  import  that  there  will  be  any  re- 
deemed sinner  in  heaven  who  is  not  perfectly  happy. 
But  it  implies  that  the  redeemed  will  differ  in  their 
capacities  of  happiness,  and  that  in  this  way  some  will 
reap  a  higher  and  more  glorious  reward  than  others. 
Paul  and  the  thief  on  the  cross  will  no  more  be  on  an 
equality  in  their  rewards,  than  they  were  in  their  labors. 
The  self-denying,  working  Christian  will  have  a  brighter 
crown  than  the  timid,  slothful  minister  who  has  barely 


gone  the  stereotype  rounds  of  his  pastorate,  and  been 
saved  at  length  as  by  fire.  The  venerable  mother  in 
Israel  who  was  gathered  into  the  garner  like  a  shock  of 
corn  fully  ripe,  will  drink  in  libations  from  the  river  of 
life  which  must  greatly  exceed  in  volume  (not  in  sweet- 
ness) those  of  the  infant  that  barely  alighted  for  a  mo- 
ment on  our  sin-stricken  sphere  and  then  soared  away  to 
paradise.  And  the  same  difference  will  be  made  among 
Christians  generally,  according  as  they  may  have  been 
characterized  by  high  or  low  degrees  of  faith,  humility, 
patience,  liberality,  active  usefulness,  and  other  attri- 
butes of  the  renewed  nature. 

This  diversity  in  the  rewards  of  the  righteous,  the 
equity  of  which  must  be  conceded  by  every  one,  will 
result,  not  exclusively  from  any  arbitrary  appointment, 
but  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case.  Not  to  go  at 
large  into  this  point,  a  hint  or  two  may  suffice  to  eluci- 
date it. 

Gratitude  is  a  generous  affection,  the  exercise  of  which 
always  affords  satisfaction.  Among  the  ransomed,  they 
will  be  most  grateful  to  God,  whom  he  redeemed  from 
the  greatest  sins,  and  then  honored  as  his  chief  instru- 
ments in  consummating  the  purposes  of  his  mercy. 
However  offices  of  the  kind  may  be  disparaged  or 
slighted  now  by  many  who  call  themselves  Christians, 
all  will  then  see  that  to  have  been  employed  in  doing 
good  to  the  souls  of  men,  was  a  nobler  distinction  than 
to  have  enlarged  the  domain  of  science  or  governed  an 
empire. 


With  the  enjoyment  inseparable  from  the  exercise  of 
gratitude,  will  be  associated  that  arising  from  the  ascer- 
tained results  of  Christian  fidelity.  It  is  impracticable 
here  to  trace  the  consequences  of  our  agency  whether 
for  good  or  for  ill.  "  What  we  do  is  merely  the  kindling 
of  a  fire  :  how  fiir  it  may  burn  we  cannot  tell,  and,  gene- 
rally speaking,  our  minds  are  but  little  occupied  about 
it.  Who  can  calculate  the  effects  of  a  modest  testimony 
borne  to  truth ;  of  an  importunate  prayer  for  its  success ; 
of  a  disinterested  act  of  self-denial ;  of  a  willing  contri- 
bution; of  a  seasonable  reproof;  of  a  wholesome  counsel; 
of  even  a  sigh  of  pity  or  a  tear  of  sympathy  ?  Each  or 
any  of  these  exercises  may  be  the  means,  in  the  Lord's 
hand,  of  producing  that  in  the  bosoms  of  individuals 
which  may  be  communicated  to  their  connections,  and 
from  them  to  theirs,  to  the  end  of  time."  It  seems  not 
improbable  that  in  heaven  the  saints  wOl  be  permitted 
to  see,  partially  at  least,  the  benificent  results,  near  and 
remote,  which  have  flowed  from  the  trains  of  influence 
they  set  in  motion.  This  will  of  course  affect  the  rela- 
tive degrees  or  measures  of  their  happiness.  If  a  com- 
pany just  rescued  from  shipwreck  or  from  a  burning 
house  were  introduced  to  a  large  assemblage,  every  bosom 
would  throb  with  pleasurable  emotions ;  but  none  among 
the  crowd  would  experience  the  joy  of  the  individuals 
whose  intrepidity  and  benevolence  had,  under  Provi- 
dence, snatched  them  from  the  jaws  of  death.  How 
much  more  intense  will  be  the  joy  of  those  who  see 
among  the  glorified  spirits  a  multitude  rescued  from  eter- 


10 

nal  misery  through  their  agency !  What  spectacles  will 
be  presented  to  the  eyes  of  men  like  Paul  and  John, 
Baxter  and  Edwards,  Bunyan  and  Doddridge,  as  the  in- 
fluence of  their  labors  and  writings  upon  the  world  comes 
to  be  disclosed.  And  how  much  will  be  added  to  the 
happiness  of  thousands  of  sincere  Christians  who  cheer- 
fully contributed  of  their  substance  to  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  or  sought  by  personal  exertions  to  benefit  their 
fellow-creatures,  when  they  discover  what  an  unlooked- 
for  amount  of  good  is  to  be  traced  back  to  their  unosten- 
tatious efforts.  Parents  who  made  it  their  aim  to  train 
up  their  children  for  God ;  teachers  who  sought  to  instil 
the  sentiments  of  true  piety  into  the  minds  of  their 
pupils ;  men  of  business  who  amidst  the  traffickings  of 
life  were  ever  on  the  alert  for  opjoortunities  of  doing  good; 
servants  whose  upright  and  consistent  conduct  diffused 
around  them  a  savour  of  godliness : — these,  and  many 
others,  will  then  learn  with  wonder,  thankfulness,  and 
joy,  what  manifold  blessings  were  secured  to  their  fel- 
low-creatures through  their  instrumentality.  And  every 
fresh  revelation  of  this  kind  will  of  course  go  to  augment 
their  pure  and  elevated  bliss. 

Other  elements  in  the  felicity  of  the  redeemed  might 
be  cited  in  this  connection,  but  enough  has  been  said  to 
show  that  the  diversity  in  their  rewards  is  not  to  be 
wholly  ascribed  to  a  sovereign  decree  of  the  Deity,  but 
springs  by  a  moral  necessity  from  the  laws  of  the  human 
constitution. 

These  principles  respecting  the  rewards  of  the  right- 


11 

ecus  must  be  kept  in  view  in  examining  the  passage  from 
which  the  text  is  taken.  It  is  important  to  remember 
that  the  various  charitable  acts  there  attributed  to  the 
saints,  are  simply  appealed  to  as  manifestations  of  charac- 
ter^ not  as  being  in  themselves  deserving  of  the  high  com- 
mendation bestowed  upon  them.  This  consideration  is 
of  the  greatest  moment  as  precluding  the  common  and 
disastrous  error,  that  offices  like  these  have  an  intrinsic 
value  which  entitles  them  to  a  reward.  Two  points  are 
indisputably  clear:  that  faith  without  works  is  dead;  and 
that  although  a  man  give  all  his  goods  to  feed  the  poor 
and  his  body  to  be  burned,  if  he  have  not  charity,  or  the 
principle  of  Christian  love  in  his  heart,  it  will  profit  him 
nothing.  This,  it  is  evident,  had  been  the  ruling  motive 
with  the  righteous  who  are  crowned  with  such  disting- 
uished honor  by  the  Saviour.  They  are  persons  who 
had  learned  that  lesson  which  is  to  be  learned  only  in  one 
school,  that  the  true  use  of  talents  and  time  and  property, 
is  to  employ  them  in  doing  good  to  our  fellow-creatures. 
They  had  displayed  that  "love  to  the  brethren"  which 
is  an  essential  badge  of  genuine  discipleship.  And  the 
mainspring  of  all  these  beneficent  activities  so  freighted 
with  blessings  to  the  children  of  want  and  sorrow,  was 
love  to  Christ.  Nothing  could  mark  with  more  beauty 
and  significancy  the  broad  line  which  separates  them 
from  all  the  clans  of  bustling  or  tranquil  philanthropists 
who  are  striving  to  mount  to  heaven  by  the  ladder  of 
their  own  charitable  achievements,  than  their  humble  and 
graceftd  response  to  the  lofty  panegyric  pronounced  on 


12 

them  by  the  Judge.  With  unaffected  modesty  they  dis- 
claim the  services  ascribed  to  them ;  and  feel  that  they 
have  done  nothing  whatever  to  entitle  them  to  a  reward. 
This  is  Christianity.  Here  is  the  "  mind  which  was  in 
Christ,"  And  no  exposition  could  make  it  more  appa- 
rent than  does  the  simple  narrative  itself,  that  Christ  put 
such  honor  upon  these  charitable  offices  because  they 
were  impregnated  and  sanctified  by  this  spirit.  If  exer- 
tions designed  for  the  relief  of  human  suffering,  however 
salutary  in  their  results,  must  without  this  element,  fail 
of  acceptance  with  Him ;  let  it  never  be  forgotten  that 
with  it,  they  are  in  His  esteem  of  very  great  value. 

Possibly  we  may  need  a  caution  here.  In  our  vivid 
impressions  of  the  pre-eminent  necessity  of  faith,  and  of 
efforts  looking  directly  to  the  conversion  and  salvation  of 
men,  we  may  inadvertently  disparage  the  humanities  of 
the  Gospel.  We  may  be  so  much  engrossed  with  its 
heavenward  aspects,  as  to  overlook  its  earthward  aspects; 
so  much  occupied  in  caring  for  men's  souls,  as  to  be  quite 
heedless  of  their  bodies ;  so  assiduous  in  dealing  with 
their  sins,  as  to  close  our  eyes  to  their  misfortunes.  The 
Bible  will  not  sanction  this  one-sided  religion ;  this  rude 
disruption  of  duties  which  it  has  joined  together.  Not 
only  by  specific  precepts  and  by  the  imposing  awards  of 
the  Judgment,  but  with  yet  greater  emphasis,  by  the 
Saviour's  constant  example,  has  it  magnified  the  minis- 
trations of  Christian  charity.  It  has  taught  us  that  the 
poor  and  the  naked,  the  sick  and  the  sorrowful,  and  all 
upon  whom  the  weight  of  any  crushing  calamity  has  fal- 


13 

len,  are  his  peculiar  care,  and,  as  such,  have  a  claim  upon 
our  prompt  and  generous  sympathy.  It  brands  as  in- 
adequate and  hypocritical  the  religion  which  contents 
itself  with  Sundays  and  sacraments,  with  saying  prayers 
and  listening  to  sermons,  while  it  leaves  the  famishing  to 
clamor  for  bread  in  vain,  and  refuses  to  lift  the  unfortu- 
nate out  of  the  dust.  Permitting  no  one  to  make  a 
"Saviour"  of  these  kindly  services,  it  exacts  them  of 
every  man  who  expects  to  be  saved,  as  the  outgoing  of 
his  gratitude  to  God,  the  decisive  proof  of  the  vahdity  of 
his  hopes,  and  the  evidence  that  he  has  a  character  fit- 
ted for  heaven.  It  does  more  than  this.  It  attaches  to 
them,  according  to  their  purity  and  profusion,  the  un- 
fading honors  of  immortahty,  precisely  as  though  they 
were  worthy  of  reward.  It  even  clothes  them  with  all 
the  distinction  and  compensates  them  with  aU  the  glory, 
which  it  would  if  they  had  been  put  forth  to  relieve  the 
Saviour  himself  from  misfortune,  or  to  supply  his  per- 
sonal wants.  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me. 

Here  is  the  impregnable  basis  upon  which  Christian- 
ity has  established  the  claims  of  our  common  humanity. 
WeU  knowing  the  selfishness  of  the  heart — how  invinci- 
ble our  avarice  and  our  sloth,  our  pride  and  our  indifier- 
ence,  might  be  to  all  inferior  motives — the  Saviour  spurs 
us  on  to  a  career  of  thriftful  and  unwearied  charity,  by 
identifying  Himself  with  every  child  of  sorrow  who 
solicits  our  aid.     However  we  may  slight  it,  the  one- 


14 

ness  between  Himself  and  His  people  is  with  Him  a 
blessed  and  unchangeable  reality.  It  is  neither  a  legal 
fiction  nor  a  mere  visible  incorporation ;  but  an  actual, 
veritable  unity  like  that  which  makes  the  head  and  the 
members  one  person.  Whatever  is  done  for  or  against 
them,  is  therefore  done  for  or  against  Him.  He  will  re- 
sent the  injuries  they  suffer  as  his  own,  and  recompense 
the  favor  shown  them  as  shown  to  Himself. 

It  is  an  astonishing  proof  of  the  unbelief  and  the 
worldliness  of  the  Church,  that  this  principle,  so  distinctly 
propounded,  so  wonderful  in  itself,  and  so  fruitful  of 
motives  to  Christian  activity,  should  so  often  be  left  to 
rust  in  the  Gospel-armory.  One  of  its  obvious  advan- 
tages is,  that  it  is  of  universal  and  permanent  applica- 
tion. Another  is,  that  it  imparts  a  sort  of  sacred  dignity 
to  duty,  especially  to  every  effort  made  for  the  relief  of 
a  fellow-creature.  And  a  third  is,  its  palpable  superiority 
to  all  the  ordinary  incentives  by  which  the  demands  of 
Christian  benevolence  are  enforced.  Here  is  a  case  of 
suffering.  Our  pity  is  appealed  to.  Our  brotherly  love 
is  invoked.  Our  humanity  is  summoned  to  the  rescue. 
If  it  be  spiritual  destitution  that  is  to  be  relieved,  we  are 
reminded  on  the  one  hand  of  the  temporal  advantages, 
the  social  and  civil  blessings,  which  follow  in  the  train 
of  the  Gospel;  and  on  the  other,  of  the  worth  of  the  soul 
and  the  appalling  evils  involved  in  its  perdition.  All  this 
is  well.  These  are  not  only  legitimate,  but  very  import- 
ant grounds  of  appeal ;  and  that  must  be  a  callous  heart 
which  can  resist  them.     But  how  remotely  do  they  ap- 


15 

proximate  in  strength  and  tenderness  to  the  argument 
embraced  in  these  words, — "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me."  "Unto  Me!"  "Unto  Me!"  Christ- 
ian, consider  whose  language  this  is — the  incarnate  Deity, 
"  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace,"  your  Surety,  your  Saviour,  your  all  in  all!  He 
it  is  who  tells  us  in  words  so  wonderful  that  they  over- 
power our  weak  faith,  and  we  believe  them  as  though 
we  believed  them  not,  that  He  regards  the  succor  we 
send  to  that  smitten  one,  as  sent  to  Himself,  and  will  so 
reward  it  at  the  last  day.  I  know  not  whether  there  be 
any  avenue  to  our  hearts  open ;  but  of  this  I  am  certain, 
that  if  any  appeal  can  make  its  way  to  them,  it  must  be 
this.  And  where  this  fails,  as  fail  it  sometimes  will,  the 
marvel  has  its  only  adequate  solution  in  the  fact  that  we 
do  not  credit  what  we  hear.  We  feel  that  there  must  be 
an  illusion  in  it ;  that  it  is  only  by  a  rhetorical  figure  the 
Saviour  can  thus  express  himself;  and  that  he  is  far  from 
intending  what  his  language  literally  imports.  But  "shall 
our  unbelief  make  the  truth  of  God  of  none  effect?" 
Must  the  simple  utterances  of  Christ  be  dealt  with  as 
vague  hyperbole,  merely  because  they  embody  a  senti- 
ment too  godlike  in  its  condescension  and  too  munificent 
in  its  generosity,  to  be  compassed  by  our  grovelling  in- 
credulity? Away,  my  Brethren,  with  this  scepticism. 
Let  us  not  aggravate  our  unbelief,  by  the  impiety  of 
challenging  the  Saviour's  veracity,  or  attempting  to  de- 
grade his  benevolence  to  the  standard  of  a  mere  earth- 


16 

born  philanthropy.  Every  consideration  of  reverence  and 
of  duty  bids  us  accept  in  its  palpable  import,  the  an- 
nouncement that  He  looks  upon  our  alms,  our  labors,  our 
prayers,  upon  everything  we  do  and  everything  we  at- 
tempt in  his  name  for  the  spiritual  or  the  temporal  well- 
being  of  our  fellow-creatures,  as  done  for  Himself. 

No  one  can  fail  to  see  that  the  introduction  of  this 
element  puts  a  new  aspect  upon  the  entire  subject  of 
Christian  benevolence.  It  invests  the  objects  to  which 
its  efforts  are  directed,  with  a  superhuman  grandeur;  and 
gives  the  whole  weight  of  the  Saviour's  personal  author- 
ity to  every  legitimate  appeal  addressed  to  our  religious 
sympathies.  We  cease  to  be  planning  and  toiling  and 
contributing  for  the  succor  of  our  needy  or  afflicted  fel- 
low-creatures. It  is  no  longer  the  beggar  at  our  door 
who  asks  to  be  clothed  and  fed;  the  poor  family  in  the 
next  lane  that  craves  our  kindness;  the  prisoner  who  en- 
treats us  to  hasten  to  his  cell ; — ^it  is  Christ  who  invokes 
these  ministrations  of  mercy.  Societies  of  Christian 
women  meet  from  week  to  week  to  make  up  garments 
for  the  households  of  faithful  Missionaries  aqiong  our 
frontier  settlements.  Christ  is  there  amidst  those  pri- 
vations and  hardships,  and  it  is  for  him  they  are  plying 
their  cheerful  industry.  You  are  expending  time  and 
money,  and  depriving  yourselves  in  a  measure  of  the 
sweet  repose  of  the  Sabbath,  in  order  to  gather  the  chil- 
dren of  a  neglected  neighborhood  into  a  Sunday-school, 
and  implant  in  their  rude  minds  the  germs  of  heavenly 
truth.     But  do  you  see  only  those  children  there?   Even 


17 

if  you  did,  the  culture  of  such  a  plantation  were  worthy 
of  all  the  pains  you  are  la}dng  out  upon  it.  How  much 
more  worthy  must  it  seem  to  you,  and  what  alacrity  must 
it  lend  to  your  footsteps,  when  you  hear  the  Saviour  call- 
ing you  to  that  spot,  and  bidding  you  regard  every  one 
of  these  uncaredfor  little  ones,  as  though  it  were  himself. 
And  the  voices  which  reach  us  from  abroad — the  Mace- 
donian cry  which  is  wafted  across  the  ocean, — from  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges, — from  the  jungles  of  Ethiopia, — 
from  the  snows  of  Greenland, — from  the  beautiful  islands 
of  the  Pacific, — are  not  these,  each  and  every  one  of 
them,  the  same  voice  which  ejaculated  that  wondrous 
prayer,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do !"  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  Saviour  teUs 
us  that  in  so  far  as  there  is  suffering  to  be  relieved,  sor- 
row to  be  assuaged,  wants  to  be  supphed,  or  benefits  of 
whatsoever  kind  to  be  conferred,  these  appeals  are  from 
Him.  He  it  is  who  supplicates  at  our  hands  that  bread 
of  life  which  alone  can  nourish  the  famishing  soul,  and 
who  will  compensate  all  the  kindness  shown  for  his  sake, 
even  to  the  benighted  heathen,  as  kindness  extended  to 
himself.  For  although  the  primary  reference  in  the  text 
is  to  His  true  disciples,  the  spirit  of  the  passage  warrants 
US  in  understanding  it  as  embracing  all  sincere  efforts  for 
the  good  of  our  fellow-creatures,  which  are  prompted  by 
love  to  Christ. 

How  this  ennobles  Christian  philanthropy.  That  is  a 
generous  philosophy  which  teaches  us  to  recognize  in 
every  man,  especially  in  every  suffering  man,  a  brother. 


18 

But  here  is  a  philosophy  which  consecrates  all  suffering 
by  impressing  it  with  the   Saviour's  image ;  which  so 
identifies  the  Son  of  God  with  the  children  of  want  and 
wo,  that  He  seems  to  dwell  again  in  our  world.     He  is 
among  the  throng  in  every  idol-temple ;  with  every  tribe 
of  savages  ;  with  the  Chinese  in  their  teeming  cities,  and 
the  brutish  Esquimaux  in  their  ice-huts;  with  every 
widow  and  every  orphan,  with  every  blind  person  and 
every  mute,  with  every  mendicant  who  needs  a  crust  of 
bread,  and  every  child  growing  up  to  vagrancy  and  ruin. 
Christ  himself  is  with  them  all — so  with  them,  that  it  is 
less  their  misery  than  His  love  which  appeals  to  our 
bounty.      And   however   strong   the   claim   a  common 
humanity  may  give  them  upon  our  pity,  the  irresistible 
argument  we  have  to  deal  with  is,  that  Christ  has  made 
Himself  one  with  them,  and  it  is  the  Saviour  that  shed 
his  blood  for  us,  who  asks  our  aid. 

Surely  if  this  were  believed  and  felt  as  it  should  be, 
the  Church  would  present  a  very  different  aspect  from 
that  which  it  wears  now.  Hoav  it  would  stimulate  the 
zeal  of  Christians  already  active,  and  set  to  work  the 
multitudes  who  from  sloth  and  lukewarmness  have  de- 
clined all  personal  exertions  for  the  benefit  of  others. 
How  it  would  silence  the  complaints  so  often  heard  re- 
specting the  frequency  of  applications  for  money,  and 
enlarge  a  hundredfold  the  sums  cast  into  the  Lord's  trea- 
sury. Where  is  the  Christian  professor — where  is  the 
man  of  the  world,  even — who  would  utter  a  complaint 
on  this  subject,  or  who  would  give  with  a  penurious  or 


19 

reluctant  hand,  if  it  were  Christ  himself  who,  year  by 
year,  and  Sabbath  by  Sabbath,  besought  his  assistance? 
Who  would  not  feel  it  an  honor  and  privilege  to  be  per- 
mitted, if  Christ  were  on  earth  and  in  trouble  or  peril, 
to  contribute  as  often  as  might  be  and  to  the  full  extent 
of  his  ability,  for  his  relief?  Who  would  not  make  any 
pecuniary  sacrifice,  undertake  any  labor,  encounter  any 
danger,  if  the  Saviour's  personal  situation  required  it  ? 
But  we  have  his  own  assurance,  that  this  is  virtually  the 
question  we  have  to  deal  with.  In  so  far  as  our  duty 
or  our  reward  is  concerned,  it  is  identical  with  it.  In 
His  esteem,  it  is  all  one  whether  He  solicit  our  help  in 
person  or  by  proxy.  He  will  put  the  same  honor  upon 
you  for  having  given  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  one  of  his 
disciples,  which  He  would  had  you  given  it  to  himself. 
If  we  are  satisfied  that  an  object  has  his  approbation,  we 
ought  to  do  for  it  precisely  what  we  would  have  done 
had  he  presented  it  in  person. 

Not  to  dwell  longer  upon  the  import  of  the  text,  we 
happily  have  it  in  our  power  to  illustrate  the  subject  by 
an  appropriate  example.  When  I  pronounce  the  name 
of  William  Shippen,  I  recall  to  the  mind  of  every  auditor 
one  of  the  old  historic  families  of  Pennsylvania,  the  roots 
of  which  must  be  sought  far  back  in  our  Colonial  annals. 
It  is  high  praise  to  say  that  this  name  was  worthily 
borne  by  the  friend  we  have  lost.  His  commanding  per- 
sonal presence  might  seem  to  be  in  keeping  with  the 
honored  ancestral  line  from  which  he  sprung,  for  it  is 


20 

rarely  we  look  upon  a  face  and  form  of  such  noble  sym- 
metry and  grace — a  fitting  casket  for  the  treasure  it 
enshrined. 

Both  by  inheritance  and  by  culture,  Dr.  Shippen's  was 
a  strong  character.  There  was  nothing  neutral  or  indif- 
ferent in  his  constitution.  His  intellect,  his  affections, 
his  passions,  his  will,  all  partook  of  the  vigor  and  energy 
of  his  physical  frame.  Under  no  circumstances  could  he 
have  been  a  cipher.  Left  to  the  sway  of  simply  natu- 
ral agencies,  such  a  character  sometimes  develops  quali- 
ties which,  in  their  exaggerated  growth,  savor  of  impe- 
riousness.  But,  informed  and  restrained  by  Divine 
grace,  these  very  qualities  exalt  and  dignify  their  pos- 
sessor. I  reveal  no  secret  when  I  say,  that  grace  did 
not  achieve  its  triumph  over  him  without  a  stern  conflict. 
But  it  did  conquer.  It  led  him  a  willing  captive  to  the 
cross  of  Christ,  and  evermore  made  it  his  daily  carol, — 

"  0  to  grace  how  great  a  debtor !" 

This  was  his  abiding  feehng.  The  sense  of  obligation, 
infinite  obhgation,  to  the  mercy  of  God,  was  inwrought 
into  his  very  being.  No  allusion  could  be  made  to  it  in 
private  conversation,  without  turning  the  strong  man  into 
a  little  child ;  and  often  have  I  seen  his  face  suffused 
with  tears,  as  he  listened  to  the  story  of  the  love  and 
pity  of  Christ  from  the  pulpit.  This  was  alike  the  case 
in  his  hours  of  assured  hope  and  trust  when  he  could 
look  up  and  say  with  joyful  confidence,  "  My  Lord,  and 
my  God!"  and  in  those  seasons  of  deep  despondency 


21 

when  his  profound  consciousness  of  ill-desert  overpowered 
his  faith  and  filled  him  with  painful  doubts  and  misgiv- 
ings. In  either  condition  his  acute  sensibilities  were  sure 
to  respond  to  the  name  and  passion  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth. 

But  the  occasion  does  not  call  for  any  minute  portrai- 
ture of  Dr.  Shippen's  life  and  character.  We  are  here 
to  consider  him  in  a  single  aspect  only.  On  returning  to 
this  city  to  reside  many  years  ago,  he  was  at  the  matu- 
rity of  his  powers.  His  affluent  endowments,  and  high 
social  position,  entitled  him  to  choose  his  sphere  of  action. 
He  might  have  gone  into  public  life:  our  city  would 
doubtless  have  been  the  gainer  by  it.  He  might  have 
devoted  his  time  and  culture  to  the  patronage  of  the 
Fine  Ai*ts, — no  unworthy  mission.  He  might  have  added 
another  unit  to  the  crowd  of  educated  men,  who  live  only 
to  enjoy  themselves  in  the  exercise  of  their  refined 
tastes,  and  neither  see  nor  care  for  anything  outside  of 
their  immediate  circle.  He  did  none  of  these  things. 
His  leisure  and  accomplishments  were  dedicated  to  loftier 
uses.  He  was  a  Trustee  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
the  President  of  the  Emlen  Institution,  a  Vice-President 
of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Alleviating  the  Miseries 
of  Public  Prisons,  a  Director  of  the  Public  Schools,  of 
the  Philadelphia  Tract  Society,  of  the  Athenaeum,  of  the 
American  Sunday-School  Union,  and  of  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb  Asylum,  an  Inspector  of  the  County  Prison,  and 
one  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  House  of  Refuge. 
Most  of  these  positions  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


22 

The  enumeration  indicates  on  the  one  hand,  the  bent  of 
his  own  predilections  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  estimate  in 
which  he  was  held  by  the  very  best  portion  of  our  com- 
munity. For,  unquestionably,  whatever  lustre  may  at- 
tach to  the  name  of  Philadelphia,  has  been  derived  in  a 
great  measure  from  the  Institutions  just  mentioned,  and 
others  of  kindred  character:  and  in  the  Boards  which 
control  these  Associations,  may  be  found  the  truest 
representation  of  the  Christian  intelligence,  the  social 
worth,  and  the  genuine  philanthropy  of  our  city.  It  were 
no  stinted  praise  to  say  of  any,  the  foremost  man  amongst 
us,  what  we  say  of  Dr.  Shippen,  that  he  worthily  filled 
his  place  in  the  management  of  ten  or  twelve  of  these  our 
choicest  Institutions.  The  beneficent  influence  of  a  life 
thus  spent,  it  is  not  our  prerogative  to  measure.  We 
have  no  powers  to  grasp  the  aggregate  results  which  flow 
from  the  steady  working  of  any  great  philanthropic 
organization.  Much  less  can  we  so  analyze  the  various 
elements  combined  in  producing  these  results,  as  to  as- 
sign his  own  specific  agency  to  each  individual  actor. 
All  we  know — all  that  we  or  they  care  to  know — is,  that 
here  is  a  body  of  Christian  men  who  sit  at  the  helm  of 
one  of  these  Institutions,  and  mould  its  character  and 
shape  its  policy.  To  the  administration  of  this  trust 
they  bring  their  several  contributions — their  wisdom, 
their  energy,  their  prudence,  their  experience, — each 
according  to  his  peculiar  endowments :  while  all  bestow 
upon  it  their  time,  their  affectionate  solicitude,  and  their 
prayers.     Some  tanci:ible  fruits  are  sure  to  reward  their 


23 

toil.  But  what  they  see,  must,  in  any  case,  be  very 
trivial  as  compared  with  what  they  do  not  see.  Such 
an  Institution  is  like  a  spring  of  living  water  in  the 
desert.  No  eye  (but  One)  can  measure  its  flow;  much 
less  follow  every  sparkling  drop  on  its  noiseless  mission, 
and  seize  upon  all  its  benign  effects,  simple  and  complex, 
near  and  remote.  In  the  end,  the  vast  achievements 
wrought  by  these  heaven-born  agencies  will  be  gathered 
up  and  disclosed  to  an  assembled  universe.  And  then 
he  that  sowed  and  he  that  reaped  will  rejoice  together. 
Till  that  day  comes,  the  faithful  men  who  are  doing  this 
work,  must  be  content  to  know,  that  their  record  is  on  high ; 
and  that  on  every  page  of  that  Book  of  Remembrance  it  is 
written,  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the 
least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

You  will  have  been  impressed  with  the  number  and 
variety  of  these  Institutions  which  shared  in  the  active 
sympathies  of  our  revered  friend.  Like  every  true  phi- 
lanthropist, however,  he  had  his  favorite  objects.  Cher- 
ishing all  the  plants  in  his  garden,  there  were  two  upon 
which  he  lavished  his  culture  with  a  generous  hand. 
These  w^ere  the  '-^Refuge"  and  the  ''^County  Prison^ 
Herein  he  was  peculiar.  It  is  no  discredit  to  any  zeal- 
ous Christian,  that  he  should  select  some  other  section 
of  the  broad  field  for  his  special  care.  But  the  Great 
Task-master  will  have  every  spot,  even  the  roughest  and 
thorniest,  brought  under  tillage ;  and  so  He  sends  a  few 
willing  laborers  into  the  Prisons  and  Refuges.  A  "  will- 
ing  laborer"   Dr.   Shippen  was.      The   County   Prison 


24 

especially  was  to  him  what  the  forum  is  to  the  advo- 
cate ;  the  woods  to  the  botanist ;  the  stars  to  the  as- 
tronomer. He  was  drawn  there  by  an  irresistible 
attraction — ^not  fitful  and  capricious,  but  calm,  equable, 
and  permanent.  For  ten  years,  it  was  very  much  his 
occupation  to  live  among  the  prisoners.  At  all  seasons 
and  in  all  weathers,  he  would  make  his  way  to  Moya- 
mensing,  to  prosecute  his  chosen  work.  And  if  at  any 
time  he  was  wanted  at  home,  his  family  were  at  no  loss 
where  to  find  him. 

There  is  something  deeply  interesting  in  this  aspect  of 
his  life.  Here  is  a  man  born  to  the  highest  associations 
known  to  polite  society,  graced  with  affluent  stores  of 
information,  and  rich  in  the  experiences  of  a  long  and 
honorable  career,  declining  the  repose  and  the  genial  fel- 
lowship proper  to  his  position,  and  sitting  down  day 
after  day  with  the  unfortunate  and  the  criminal  in  their 
cells,  to  instruct,  to  comfort,  and,  if  it  might  so  be,  to  re- 
claim them.  His  kindness  often  wins  their  confidence. 
He  listens  patiently  to  their  tales.  He  admonishes  them 
of  their  faults.  He  seeks  to  revive  in  their  breasts  the 
feeling  of  ill-desert ;  the  consciousness,  not  merely  nor 
mainly,  of  having  violated  human  law,  but  of  having  sin- 
ned against  God.  Still  keeping  this  end  in  view,  it  is 
his  joy  and  happiness  to  "preach  Jesus"  to  them ;  to  tell 
them  that  "Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners,  even  the  chief:"  and  to  point  them  to  that  pre- 
cious blood  which  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  Even  the  dull- 
est   nature    can  appreci;ite    the    mornl    sublimity    of  a 


25 

spectacle  like  this.^  Few  earthly  eyes  look  upon  it.  No 
plaudits  cheer  the  veteran  apostle  in  his  lonely  work.  But 
is  he,  therefore,  unnoticed?  Can  we  doubt  that  white- 
robed  angels  sweeping  by^  fold  their  pinions  as  they  reach 
these  prison  cloisters,  and  encamp  around  the  strange, 
unwonted  group  ?  Are  we  not  certain,  that  the  Lord  of 
angels  is  there  by  the  side  of  his  servant,  as  he  stood  by 
Mary  at  the  sepulchre;  and  that  his  every  word  of 
sympathy  and  counsel  and  prayer,  is  chronicled,  with 
the  gracious  comment — "Ye  did  it  unto  Me!" 

Here  also  where  we  stand  to-day,  did  he  find  congenial 
toil.  If  these  walls  could  speak,  they  would  bear  grate- 
ful testimony  to  the  deep  interest  he  took  in  this  Insti- 
tution. His  honored  associates  in  this  high  trust,  feel 
that  they  have  lost  one  of  their  best  counsellors  and  co- 
workers. Many  a  youth  now  or  formerly  an  ininate 
here,  will  recall  him  as  a  true  friend — one  who  blended 
with  the  authority  of  a  ruler,  the  tenderness  of  a  father; 
and  who  left  no  means  untried  to  recover  the  erring,  and, 
cheer  the  penitent  in  their  efforts  at  well-doing.  This 
union  of  firmness  with  kindness,  is  the  radical  principle 
upon  which  the  system  established  here  rests — the  heart 
and  core,  indeed,  of  every  Reformatory  system  worthy 
of  the  name.  And  Dr.  Shippen  understood  it  thoroughly. 
He  loved  these  boys  and  girls  too  well,  not  to  be  solicit- 
ous to  guard  them  against  the  opposite  and  perhaps  co- 
equal dangers,  of  an  undue  severity  and  a  misplaced 
indulgence.     It  is  grateful  to  believe  that  his  self-deny- 


26 

ing  labors  here  were  not  wasted.  Whatever  palpable 
results  may  or  may  not  have  greeted  his  eyes,  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  a  nature  like  his  could  be  brought 
year  by  year  into  familiar  and  friendly  contact  with  so 
many  youthful  minds,  without  producing  some  wholesome 
and  ineradicable  impressions.  In  the  day  of  days,  he 
will  reap  his  harvest  from  the  seed  sown  in  this  House 
OF  Refuge. 

If  in  speaking  of  his  position  and  attainments,  I  have 
been  understood  to  intimate  that  these  labors  were  un- 
worthy of  his  powers,  nothing  could  be  farther  from  my 
purpose.  It  is  only  when  gauged  by  a  very  low  earthly 
standard,  that  such  a  conclusion  could  be  reached.  In 
God's  esteem,  no  ministry  can  be  deemed  insignificant 
which  looks  to  the  well-being  of  a  single  human  soul.  If 
this  point  might  have  been  debateable  before  the  Advent, 
our  Saviour  has  decisively  settled  it,  first,  by  spending 
much  of  his  own  time  in  healing,  instructing,  and  con- 
soling poor  and  unknown  persons ;  and,  secondly,  by 
treating  similar  ofl&ces  when  performed  by  his  disciples, 
as  if  done  to  Himself.  I  know  of  no  better  legend  for 
the  seal  of  this  Institution,  or  any  other  of  kindred  aims, 
than  the  marvellous  utterance  with  which  we  have  been 
dealing,  "  Ye  have  done  it  unto  Me!"  In  this  brief  sen- 
tence, Brethren,  you  have  not  only  the  highest  possible 
sanction  for  your  work,  but  a  motive  to  patience  and 
constancy  which  cannot  fail  to  reanimate  you  under 
whatever  discourao'ements.     Nor  can  there  be  one  at  the 


27 

Council-Board  of  this  Refuge,  who  will  question  that  he 
is  most  honorably  as  well  as  most  usefully  employed,  in 
giving  his  time  and  care  to  the  temporal  and  spiritual 
well-being  of  these  children.  If  the  Master  were  amongst 
us  in  person,  we  cannot  doubt  that  He  would  come  and 
pronounce  His  benediction  upon  this  Refuge.  And  no 
object  deserving  of  His  sympathy  can  be  unworthy  the 
attention  and  assistance  of  any,  the  most  gifted,  of  His 
disciples.     Such  is  the  aspect  of  the  subject  God-ward. 

On  its  reverse  side,  we  may  confidently  claim  for  the 
Boards  which  superintend  these  Institutions,  the  grati- 
tude of  the  community.  It  is  too  little  considered  what 
obligations  society  owes  to  the  men  who  administer 
these  trusts.  Happy  is  it  for  us,  that  you  are  willing  to 
add  to  your  personal  anxieties  and  duties,  these  weighty 
public  burdens.  The  services  you  render  the  State  in 
these  relations,  with  no  other  fee  or  reward  than  the 
consciousness  of  following  herein  the  footsteps  of  Him 
"  who  went  about  doing  good,"  are  above  all  price.  Let  us 
hope  that  as  in  the  past,  so  in  the  future,  these  admirable 
Institutions  may  suffer  neither  from  private  rivalries  nor 
from  sectarian  bigotry ;  and  especially  that  they  may 
none  of  them  be  drawn  into  that  mcelstroom  of  part?/  poli- 
tics, whose  foul  waters  have  slimed  and  wrecked  so  many 
hallowed  interests  sacred  to  education,  to  public  virtue, 
and  to  Christian  benevolence. 

You  will  not  expect  me  to  speak  of  Dr.  Shippen  in  his 
domestic,  social,  and  ecclesiastical  relations.     You  will 


28 

long  since  have  accorded  your  respectful  sympathy  to  his 
bereaved  children,  and  to  her,  (if  the  word  may  be  par- 
doned) whose  gentle  presence,  now  veiled  in  the  shadow 
of  a  great  sorrow,  irradiated,  as  with  celestial  beams,  his 
whole  pathway  through  life.  It  may  be  proper,  however, 
for  me  to  say  in  conclusion,  that  our  friend  was  for  just 
thirty  years  a  member  of  the  Church  to  which  it  is  my 
privilege  to  minister :  that  he  was  long  a  teacher,  and  at 
one  time  the  superintendent  of  its  Sunday-school :  and 
that  he  was  alive  to  every  thing  connected  with  the  pros- 
perity of  real  religion.  The  three  long  years  which  fol- 
lowed his  accident,  subjected  his  Christian  graces  to  a 
fiery  ordeal.  Scarcely  will  you  find  in  our  city  a  man 
of  three  score  and  ten,  so  active,  so  energetic,  so  much 
upon  his  feet,  as  he  was.  For  such  a  man  to  be  led  into 
a  sick  room  to  lie  down  upon  his  couch  in  feebleness  and 
suffering,  disabled  for  all  locomotion,  and  after  many 
tedious  months  recruiting  only  strength  enough  to  com- 
pass the  rounds  of  his  own  mansion, — you  will  believe 
that  this  was  no  ordinary  trial.  Flesh  and  blood  must 
have  rebelled  or  sunk  under  it.  But  it  was  no  arm  of 
flesh  upon  which  he  leaned.  He  found  the  promise  true, 
"As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  No  murmur 
escaped  his  lips.  The  clouds  of  despondency  which  had 
sometimes  shut  him  in,  were  all  dispersed.  As  his 
strength  declined,  his  graces  ripened.  His  faith  in  the 
great  sacrifice  was  beautiful  in  its  simplicity.  His  robust 
character  softened   and   mellowed  into   symmetry  and 


29 

gentleness.  And  the  few  friends  admitted  to  his  privacy, 
felt  when  the  reaper  came,*  that  the  shock  of  corn  was 
fully  ripe  and  ready  for  the  garner. 

May  we  all  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  our 
last  end  be  like  his. 

*  June  5,  1867. 


THE 


AMERICAN    UXION: 


A  DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED 


On  Thursday,  December  12.  1850. 


THE    DAT   OF    THE    ASXIAL    THANKSGIVING   IX    PEXXSYLVAXIA, 


AND  REPEATED  OX  THURSDAY.  DECEMBER  19, 


N  THE  TENTH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA, 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAX,  D.D. 


SEVENTH    EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    B.    L  I  P  P  I  X  C  O  T  T    &    C  O. 
1860. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851,  bj" 

I,  T  PPIXCOTT,     GUAM  BO      &      CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


C.  SHERAIAN  &  SON,  Primers 
S.  W.  Corner  Seventh  and  Clierry  Streets,  Philadelphia. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


This  sermon  has  long  been  out  of  print.  Frequent  applications  have 
been  made  for  it,  which  could  not  be  supplied.  I  deeply  regret  that  any 
occasion  should  have  arisen  for  republishing  it.  But  it  is  the  proper  com- 
plement of  my  sermon  on  Thanksgiving  Day;  and  the  argument  of  that 
discourse  is  very  incomplete  without  this. 

On  referring  to  this  pamphlet,  after  a  long  interval,  I  find  it  pervaded 
with  a  very  different  tone  from  that  of  the  recent  sermon,  in  respect  to  the 
triumphs  and  influence  of  Christianity  in  our  country.  I  have  only  to  say 
on  this  point,  that  within  the  last  ten  years,  there  has  been  a  rapid  develop- 
ment amongst  us  of  an  acrimonious  theology,  which  has  poisoned  our 
politics,  and  filled  the  country  with  hatred  instead  of  love.  This  may  ex- 
plain many  things  of  much  greater  moment  than  the  dissimilarity  between 
these  two  discourses. 

Philaullfuia,  Deveiuber  .3,  I860. 


Philadelphia,  December  20tb,  1830. 
To  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boakdmax,  D.D. 

Dear  Sir  :  Your  friends  and  immediate  fellow-citizens  who  have  listened 
to  your  discourse  on  the  Union,  are  naturally  desirous  of  sharing  with  the 
country  at  large  the  advantages  of  so  valuable  a  production. 

The  spirit  of  true  patriotism  which  it  breathes  is  especially  calculated 
to  do  good,  by  being  widely  dififused  at  the  present  moment,  while  it  is 
distinguished  by  a  tone  of  piety  that  is  auspicious  at  all  times,  and  cannot 
fail  to  be  universally  acceptable. 

In  the  name  of  all  who  bad  the  satisfaction  to  witness  your  eloquence 
on  this  interesting  occasion,  we  respectfully  ask  that  you  would  favor  us 
with  the  use  of  the  manuscript  for  publication. 

With  sincere  respect  and  regard. 

Your  friends  and  faithful  servants, 
J.  R.  IxGERsoLL,  G.  M.  Dallas, 

R.  Pattersox,  W.  M.  Meredith, 

John  K.  Fixdlay,  Jos.  Patterson, 

W.  C.  Patterson,  R.  M.  Patterson, 

John  W.  Forney,  Edward  Armstrong, 

John  S.  Riddle. 


Philadelphia,  December  20th,  1850. 
To  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.D. 

Reverend  and  Dear  Sir:  Cordially  approving  the  sentiments  expressed 
by  you  in  your  recent  discourse  on  the  American  Union,  and  believing 
that  a  more  general  diffusion  of  these  sentiments  would  tend  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  sound  public  opinion  on  this  very  important  subject,  and  being 
desirous,  moreover,  individually,  in  some  explicit  and  formal  manner,  to 
testify  our  own  devout  attachment  to  the  Union,  and  our  utter  dissent  from 
those  who  would  subvert  it,  and  our  determination  to  abide  by  the  Consti- 
tution and  laws,  and  more  particularly  those  laws  of  the  last  session  of 
Congress  known  as  the  Compromise  Acts,  we,  the  undersigned,  do  most 
gratefully  and  heartily  thank  you  for  your  eloquent  and  timely  discourse 
on  this  subject,  and  request  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

Alex.  W.  Mitchell,  M.D.,  Charles  B.  Penrose, 

Wm.  H.  Dillingham,  A.  V.  Parsons, 

Lawrence  Lewis,  John  S.  Hart, 

Wm.  Shippen,  M.D.,  James  B.  Rogers, 

C.  B.  Jaudon,  Wm.  Harris,  M.D., 

Hugh  Elliot,  J.  N.  Dickson, 

Francis  West,  M.D.,  Smith,  Murphy  &  Co., 

Wm.  Goodrich,  Hogan  &  Thompson, 

R.  R.  Bearden,  J.  B.  Ross, 

Turner,  Harris  &  Hale,  James  Boggs, 

James  Imbrie,  Jr.,  Lippincott,  Grambo  &  Co  , 


VI 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Jno.    11.    VOGDES, 

John  K.  Towxsend,  M.D., 

W.    H.    GlLLINGHAM,  M.D., 

a.  b.  cummixgs, 

John  H.  Brown, 

Samuel  Hood, 

William  B.  Hieskell, 

Moses  Johnson, 

Dale,  Ross  &  Withers, 

Tuos.  H.  HoGE, 

Dun  DAS  T.  Pratt, 

F.  N.  Buck, 

James  Orxe, 

James  Schott, 

Wm.  Veitch, 

LiND  &  Brother, 

Taylor  &  Paulding, 

B.  P.  Hutchinson, 

Sibley,  Moulton  &  Woodruff, 

David  Springs  &  Co., 

R.  B.  Brinton  &  Co., 

James  Leslie, 

Henry  R. 


Peter  L    Ferguson, 
Truitt,  Brother  &  Co., 
Martin  &  Smith, 
W.  Kirk, 
Arthur  A.  Burt, 
Morris  Patterson, 
Faust  &  Winehrenner, 
William  Brown, 

D.    B.    BiRNEY, 

Gemmill  &  Creswell, 
J.  G.  Mitchell, 
Scott,  Baker  &  Co., 
J.  Anspach,  Jr., 
Geo.  C.  Barber, 
J.  W.  Tilford, 
Jno.  McArthur, 
RoBT.  M.  Slay-.maker, 
A.  W.  Slack, 
James  Burrowes, 
Knorr  &  Fuller, 
De  Coursey,  Lafourcade  &  Co. 
Maurice  A.  Wurts, 
Davis. 


Philadelphia,  December  23cl,  1850. 
Gentlemen  :  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  favor  with  which  mj  late  humble 
effort  in  behalf  of  the  Union  has  been  received,  is  to  be  ascribed  more  to 
the  existing  state  of  the  public  mind  on  this  subject,  than  to  the  intrinsic 
merit  of  the  performance  itself.  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty,  however,  to 
decline  an  application  emanating  from  a  body  of  my  fellow-citizens  so 
honorably  representing  the  commerce  of  our  city  and  the  learned  pro- 
fessions, and  comprising  gentlemen  whose  public  services  have  won  for 
them  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  the  nation,  and  identified  their  fame  with 
that  of  the  Union. 

In  the  hope  that  the  discourse  which  you  have  in  such  flattering  terms 
requested  for  publication  may  be  made,  by  a  good  Providence,  instrumental 
in  promoting  in  some  degree  the  cause  which  we  all  have  so  much  at  heart, 
I  herewith  place  the  manuscript  at  your  disposal. 
I  am,  very  faithfully. 

Your  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

H.  A.  BOARDMAN. 
To  the  Hon.  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll, 
Major-General  Patterson, 
Hon.  George  M.  Dallas, 
Hon.  Wm.  M.  Meredith, 
Hon.  Charles  B.  Penrose, 
Hon.  A.  V.  Parson.s, 
Alex.  W.  Mitchell,  M.D., 
Wm.  H.  Dillingham,  Esq., 
Professor  Hart, 
Lawrence  Lewis,  Esq.,  and  others. 


THE    UNION. 


Do  ye  tlius  requite  the  Lord,  0  foolish  people  and  unwise?  is  not  he 
thy  father  ihat  hath  bought  thee  ?  hath  he  not  made  thee,  and  established 
thee  ? 

Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years  of  many  generations : 
ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  show  thee ;  thy  elders,  and  they  will  tell 
thee. 

When  the  Most  High  divided  to  the  nations  their  inheritance,  when  he 
separated  the  sons  of  Adam,  he  set  the  bounds  of  the  people  according  to 
the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

For  the  Lord's  portion  is  his  people  ;  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  his  inheritance. 

He  found  him  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness: 
he  led  him  about,  he  instructed  him,  he  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye. 

As  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  fluttereih  over  her  young,  spreadeth 
abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings ; 

So  the  Lord  alone  did  lead  him,  and  (here  teas  no  strange  god  with 
him. 

He  made  him  ride  on  the  high  places  of  the  earth,  that  he  might  eat  the 
increase  of  the  fields  ;  and  he  made  him  to  suck  honey  out  of  the  rock, 
and  oil  out  of  the  flinty  rock  ; 

Butter  of  kine,  and  milk  of  sheep,  with  fat  of  lambs,  and  rams  of  the 
breed  of  Bashan,  and  goats,  with  the  fat  of  kidneys  of  wheat;  and  thou 
didst  drink  the  pure  blood  of  the  grape. — Deut.  o2  :  6-14. 

These  words  delineate  with  great  beauty  of  imagery 
the  general  course  of  the  Divine  dispensations  towards 
ancient  Israel.  Susceptible  as  they  are  of  a  ready 
adaptation  to  our  own  country,  they  suggest  some 
of  the  various  causes  for  gratitude  to  the  Supreme 
Disposer  of  events,  which  should  animate  our  hearts 


8  THE    UNION. 

as  we  assemble  in  our  sanctuaries  on  this  Day  of 
Thanksgiving.  But  they  also  intimate  (if  we  choose 
thus  to  approx3riate  the  passage  to  ourselves)  that  we 
are  in  danger  of  perverting  and  losing  the  munificent 
blessings  Providence  has  conferred  upon  us.  There 
is,  I  fear,  but  too  much  occasion  for  this  warning. 
The  pulpit  should  be  very  slow  to  give  countenance 
or  currency  to  topics  calculated  to  excite  or  alarm  the 
public  mind ;  but  where  the  Union  itself  is  in  jeopardy, 
both  patriotism  and  religion  forbid  that  it  should  re- 
main silent.  In  the  judgment  of  discreet  and  upright 
men  of  all  parties,  a  crisis  of  this  kind  has  now  arrived. 
And,  indeed,  the  indications  of  it  are  so  palpable  that 
he  only  who  shuts  his  eyes  can  fail  to  see  them. 

Up  to  a  period  quite  within  the  recoUt^ction  of  the 
young  men  before  me,  the  word.  Disunion,  was  never 
uttered  in  any  part  of  the  Republic  but  with  ab- 
horrence. The  universal  sentiment  was  that  the 
Union  of  these  States  was  to  be  maintained  at  all 
hazards — that  it  was  not  a  question  to  be  discussed — 
and  that  any  individual  who  should  presume  to  im- 
pugn its  sacred  obligation  would  be  justly  chargeable 
with  moral  treason,  and  ought  to  be  regarded  as  an 
enemy  to  his  country.  This  wholesome  public  senti- 
ment has  been  for  several  years  past  gradually  giving 
way.  Our  ears  have  become  familiarized  to  the  word, 
Disunion.  A  protracted  session  of  Congress  has  been 
consumed  in  discussing  the  thing  itself  One  State  is 
at  this  moment  almost  on  the  verge  of  secession. 
Others  are  threatening  it.     And  a  large  and  vigilant 


THE    UNION.  9 

party  elsewlierc  are  pressing-  flxvoritc  measures  with 
the  full  conviction  that,  if  they  succeed  in  carrying 
them,  the  Union  must  and  will  be  riven  asunder. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  pulpit  may  no  more 
keep  silence  than  the  press.  We  have  the  same  ci\il 
rights  as  other  citizens ;  and  we  do  not  mean  lightly 
to  surrender  them.  But  aside  from  this,  the  interests 
of  religion  in  this  country  are  in  some  sort  confided 
to  the  keeping  of  the  ministry :  and  Christianity — not 
Christianity  for  our  own  land  merely,  but  for  the  world, 
and  for  all  coming  generations  of  mankind — has  so 
much  at  stake  in  the  American  Union,  that,  if  we 
should  refuse  to  co-operate  with  our  fellow-citizens  in 
all  legitimate  measures  for  the  preservation  of  that 
Union,  we  should  be  recreant  to  the  Master  we  pro- 
fess to  serve,  and  unfit  to  minister  at  his  altar. 

In  tlie  original  manuscript  of  Washington's  Fare- 
well Address,  there  is  the  following  paragraph  par- 
tially erased.  With  the  exception  of  the  last  sentence, 
it  was  rejected  by  him ;  but  no  apology  will  be  needed 
for  citing  it  on  an  occasion  like  the  present:  "  Besides 
the  more  serious  causes  already  hinted  as  threatening 
our  Union,  there  is  one  less  dangerous,  but  sufficiently 
dangerous  to  make  it  prudent  to  be  on  our  guard 
against  it.  I  allude  to  the  petulance  of  party  differ- 
ences of  opinion.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  the 
irritations  which  these  excite,  vent  themselves  in 
declarations  that  the  different  parts  of  the  United 
States  are  ill  affected  to  each  other,  in  menaces  that 
the  Union  will  be  dissolved  by  this,  or  that  measure. 


10  THE    UNION. 

Intimations  like  these  are  as  indiscreet  as  they  are 
intemperate.  Though  frequently  made  with  levity, 
and  without  any  really  evil  intention,  they  have  a 
tendency  to  produce  the  consequence  which  they  in- 
dicate. They  teach  the  minds  of  men  to  consider  the 
Union  as  precarious ;  as  an  object  to  which  they  ought 
not  to  attach  their  hopes  and  fortunes ;  and  thus  chill 
the  sentiment  in  its  ftivor.  By  alarming  the  pride  of 
those  to  whom  they  are  addressed,  they  set  ingenuity 
at  work  to  depreciate  the  value  of  the  thing,  and  to 
discover  reasons  of  indifference  towards  it.  This  is 
not  wise.  It  will  be  much  wiser  to  habituate  our- 
selves to  reverence  the  Union  as  the  Palladium  of  our 
National  happiness;  to  accommodate  constantly  our 
words  and  actions  to  that  idea,  and  to  discountenance 
whatever  may  suggest  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any 
event  be  abandoned." 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  this  paragraph  would 
not  have  been  retained,  could  Washington  have 
foreseen  the  events  which  are  passing  before  our  eyes. 
For  there  is  a  tone  of  remark  now  prevalent  on  this 
subject  which  indicates  a  wide-spread  and  perhaps 
growing  disposition  to  calculate  the  value  of  the 
Union.  That  such  a  problem  should  in  any  quarter 
be  seriously  entertained, — that  it  should  not,  on 
being  propounded,  be  as  summarily  and  indignantly 
thrust  away  as  the  question  would  be,  whether 
we  shall  replace  our  present  form  of  government 
with  a  monarchy, — is  symptomatic  of  a  decay  of  that 
lofty  patriotism  which  once  throbbed  in  every  Ame- 


THE    UNION.  11 

rican  breast.  Certain  it  is  that  those  who  can  degrade 
a  theme  like  this  to  the  computations  of  a  mere  com- 
mercial arithmetic,  and  resolve  the  value  of  the  Union 
as  they  would  adjust  a  marine  venture,  or  the  cost  of 
a  cotton-mill,  have  never  even  begun  to  comprehend 
the  extraordinary  chain  of  events  which  led  to  the 
establishment  of  this  Union,  the  gigantic  difficulties 
which  opposed  its  formation,  the  manifold  blessings 
which  have  resulted  from  it,  or  the  legionary  evils 
which  would  follow  its  subversion.  A  proper  dis- 
cussion of  these  several  topics  in  a  temperate  and 
able  manner  might  well  engage  the  leisure  of  some 
one  of  our  eminent  statesmen  at  the  present  junc- 
ture, and  could  not  fail  to  have  a  salutary  influ- 
ence on  the  nation  at  large.  I  propose  simply  ta 
recall  your  attention  to  the  origin  of  the  Union,  and 

SOME  OF  THE  MORE  OBVIOUS  CONSEQUENCES  WHICH  WOULD 
BE  LIKELY  TO  FLOW  FROM  ITS  DISSOLUTION, that  WO  may 

the  better  understand  what  it  is  that  certain  parties 
are  proposing  to  accomplish. 

The  observation  has  been  often  made,  that  the 
whole  current  of  events  connected  with  the  settle- 
ment of  America,  and  the  growth  of  the  Colonies,  re- 
veals a  purpose  on  the  part  of  Divine  Providence  to 
found,  in  this  Western  Hemisphere,  a  model  govern- 
ment. They  were  no  ordinary  men  who  were  sent 
here  to  lay  the  foundations  of  an  empire  in  a  wilder- 
ness tenanted  by  wild  beasts  and  savages.  jS'o  nation 
can  boast  a  more  honorable  ancestrv  than  that  which 


12  THE    UNION. 

comprises  the  Puritans,  the  Huguenots,  and  the  Qua- 
kers, who  fled  to  this  continent,  that  they  might  enjoy 

'*  Freedom  to  worship  God." 

The  seeding  of  the  soil  gave  promise  of  a  rare  and 
generous  harvest;  and  amply  was  the  pledge  re- 
deemed. They  knew  not  the  exalted  mission  en- 
trusted to  them;  it  was  impossible,  without  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  that  they  should  have  known  it.  But  it  is 
easy  for  us  to  see  that,  during  the  entire  period  of 
their  Colonial  state,  they  were  preparing  for  the  work 
before  them.  In  their  privations  and  dangers,  their 
sicknesses  and  wars,  their  mutual  rivalries  and  quar- 
rels ;  in  the  unnatural  neglect  and  flagrant  oppression 
with  which  they  were  treated  by  the  parent  govern- 
ment; in  the  sagacity,  enterprise,  firmness,  and  cou- 
rage which  their  circumstances  helped  to  develop ;  and 
in  the  continual  accession  to  their  numbers  of  men  of 
kindred  principles,  who  were  driven  from  the  Old 
World  by  persecution  or  tyranny, — we  can  detect  a 
superhuman  agency,  which  was  moulding  and  strength- 
ening them  for  the  scenes  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
responsibilities  involved  in  its  successful  termination. 
These,  it  is  important  to  remember,  demanded  a  train- 
ing no  less  peculiar  than  the  Revolution  itself  It  is 
too  commonly  taken  for  granted  that,  with  the  Peace 
of  '83,  all  danger  was  over;  that  the  auspicious  issue 
of  our  contest  with  the  mother  country  was  tanta- 
mount to  the  creation  of  a  free  and  powerful  Republic. 
In  a  word,  that,  as  soon  as  their  battles  were  ended. 


THE    UNION.  13 

and  the  chains  of  their  Colonial  vassalage  broken,  onr 
fathers  had  but  to  sit  down  in  quiet  and  enjoy  the 
benign  protection  of  that  glorious  Union  which  has, 
under  Providence,  made  us  the  most  prosperous  nation 
on  the  globe.    This  is  not  only  an  utter  misconception 
of  the  facts  in  the  case,  but  it  is  adapted  to  disparage 
the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the  men  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  to  impair  our  reverence  for  the  Union  itself. 
It  is  scarcely  going  beyond  the  truth  to  say  that  their 
work  was  but  half  accomplished  with  the  close  of  their 
last  campaign.     They  had  severed  their  allegiance  to 
the  Crown ;  but  they  had  no  adequate  government  of 
their  own,  and  they  were  in  a  situation  most  unfavor- 
able for  the  establishment  of  one.     The  Union,  that 
is,  such  a  Union  as  their  necessities  demanded,  was 
so  far  from  evolving   itself   spontaneously  from    the 
chaos  wiiich  succeeded  the  war,  that  the  wisest  and 
best  men  among  them  entertained  the  most  anxious 
apprehensions  as  to  the  possibility  of  effecting  it  at 
all.     "  It  may  be  in  me,"  said  one  of  them,*  a  man 
whose    comprehensive   and   penetrating  intellect  re- 
solved the  abstrusest  theorems  in  political  science  as 
by  intuition,  and  who  could  express  his  profound  and 
luminous  views  in  a  style  wiiich  would  scarcely  suffer 
by  a  comparison  with  that  of  Junius, — "  It  may  be  in 
me  a  defect  of  political  fortitude,  but  I  acknowledge 
that  I  cannot  entertain  an  equal  tranquillity  with  those 
who  affect  to  treat   the  dangers  of   a  long  continu- 

*  Mr.  Hamilton.     . 


14  THE    UNION. 

aiice  in  our  present  situation  as  imaginary.  A  nation 
without  a  national  Government  is  an  awful  spectacle. 
The  establishment  of  a  Constitution  in  time  of  pro- 
found peace,  by  the  voluntary  consent  of  a  wliole 
people,  is  a  Prodigy,  to  the  completion  of  which  I 
look  forward  with  trembling  anxiety.  I  dread  the 
more  the  consequences  of  new  attempts,  because  I 
know  that  powerful  individuals  in  this  State  [New 
York]  and  other  States,  are  enemies  to  a  general 
national  Government  in  every  possible  shape." 

In  a  similar  strain,  General  Washington,  at  an  ear- 
lier period,  two  y^ears  after  the  Treaty  of  Peace,  wrote 
to  Mr.  Jay:  "AVhat  astonishing  changes  a  few  years 
are  capable  of  producing !  I  am  told  that  even  respect- 
able characters  speak  of  a  monarchical  form  of  govern- 
ment without  horror.  From  thinking  proceeds  speak- 
ing ;  thence  to  acting  is  often  but  a  single  step.  But 
liow  irrevocable  and  tremendous !  What  a  triumph 
for  our  enemies  to  verify  tlieir  predictions !  What  a 
triumph  for  the  advocates  of  despotism,  to  find  that 
we  are  incapable  of  governing  ourselves,  and  that 
systems  founded  on  the  basis  of  equal  liberty  are 
merely  ideal  and  fallacious !  Would  to  God  that  wise 
measures  may  be  taken  in  time  to  avert  the  conse- 
quences we  have  but  too  much  reason  to  apprehend !" 

The  old  Confederation  would  have  been  too  weak 
even  for  the  purposes  of  war  in  any  other  hands  than 
those  of  the  pure  and  able  men  who  were  called  to 
conduct  the  Ilevolution.  And  when  the  outward 
pressure  was  removed,   and    tlie    Colonies   fell   back 


THE    UNIOX.  15 

under  the  sway  of  their  several  local  usages  and 
interests,  the  compact  whicli  united  them  proved  to 
be  but  a  rope  of  sand.  The  condition  of  the  country 
waxed  worse  and  worse,  until  it  seemed  to  be  on  the 
verge  of  some  terrible  catastrophe.  The  war  had 
dried  up  its  resources.  The  government  was  encum- 
bered with  a  debt  wliicli  it  had  no  means  of  paying. 
Commerce  was  at  the  lowest  point  of  declension. 
The  Colonies,  oppressed  by  their  necessities,  and  more 
solicitous  to  retrieve  their  own  fortunes  than  those 
of  the  Union,  refused  the  supplies  of  money  which 
were  indispensable  to  the  efficiency  of  the  Confedera- 
tion, and  even  to  its  prolonged  existence.  The  go- 
vernment w^as  the  very  picture  of  imbecility ;  without 
troops,  without  a  revenue,  without  credit,  without 
power  to  enforce  its  laws  at  home,  or  to  inspire  respect 
abroad.  And  the  reciprocal  jealousies  of  the  Colonies, 
reviving  witli  the  return  of  peace,  afforded  little 
ground  to  hope  that  any  scheme  of  union  could  be 
devised  in  which  they  would  all,  or  even  a  major  part 
of  them,  coalesce.  The  defects  of  the  existing  league 
were  too  palpable  to  be  denied ;  but  the  most  discord- 
ant opinions  prevailed  as  to  the  appropriate  remedy. 
This  may  be  seen  in  the  multiform  objections  wdiich 
were  made  to  the  new  Constitution  when  it  came  to 
be  submitted  to  the  States  for  their  adoption.  Not  to 
speak  of  the  monarchical  party  alluded  to  by  General 
Washington,  and  which  was  probably  very  small, 
the  following  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  these 
objections :  "  This  one  tells  us  that  the  Constitution 


16  THE    UNION. 

ought  to  be  rejected,  because  it  is  not  a  Confederation 
of  the    States,  but   a    government    over  individuals. 
Another  admits   that  it  ought  to   be  a  government 
over  individuals  to  a  certain  extent,  but  not   to   the 
extent   proposed.     A  third  objects  to  the  want  of  a 
bill  of  rights.     A  fourth  would  have  a  bill  of  rights, 
but  would  have  it  declaratory  not  of  the  personal 
rights  of  individuals,  but  of  the  rights  reserved  to  the 
States  in  their  political  capacity.     A  fifth  thinks  the 
plan  would  be  unexceptionable  but  for  the  fatal  power 
of  regulating  the  times  and  places  of  election.     An 
objector  in  a  large  State  exclaims  loudly  against  the 
unreasonable  equality  of  representation  in  the  Senate. 
An  objector  in  a  small  State  is  equally  loud  against 
the    dangerous   inequality  in    the    House    of  Repre- 
sentatives.    From  one  quarter  the  amazing  expense 
of  administering  the  new  government  is  urged ;   from 
another  the  cry  is  that  the  Congress  will  be  but  a 
shadow  of  a  representation,  and  that  the  government 
would  be  far  less   objectionable  if  the  number  and 
the   expense  were   doubled.      A   patriot   in    a    State 
that  does  not  import,  discerns  insuperable  objections 
against  the  power  of  direct  taxation.     The  patriotic 
adversary  in  a  state  of  great  exports  and  imports,  is 
not  less  dissatisfied  that  the  whole  burden  of  taxes 
may   be    thrown   on   consumption.      This    politician 
discovers  in  the  Constitution  a  direct  and  irresistible 
tendency  to   monarchy;   that  is  equally  sure  it  will 
end  in  aristocracy."*     But  it  would  be  wearisome  to 

*  Mr.  Madison. 


THE   UNIOX.  17 

go  on  with  this  catalogue,  and  cite  tlie  objections 
urged  ajjainst  the  instrument  as  a  whole,  and  those 
advanced  against  the  specific  provisions  appertaining 
severally  to  the  legislative,  the  judicial,  and  th(?  exe- 
cutive departments.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  the  Convention  which  assembled  to  frame  a 
Constitution  had  an  herculean  task  to  perform ;  and 
that,  without  the  special  illumination  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, they  must  have  essayed  in  vain  to  frame  an 
instrument  which  should  unite  in  its  support  the 
suffrages  of  a  majority  of  the  States. 

It  is  an  additional  consideration  of  great  weight, 
bearing  upon  this  point,  that  they  were  without  a 
model.  There  was  no  existing  government  which  they 
were  willing  to  copy.  There  was  no  government  of 
antiquity  which  would  at  all  answer  their  purpose. 
They  were,  in  truth,  not  only  in  advance  of  their  own 
age,  but  of  all  ages,  in  their  ideas  of  civil  government. 
AVe  may  apply  to  them  what  Milton  has  said  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets ;  they  appear — 

"As  men  divinely  taught,  and  better  teaching 
The  solid  rules  of  civil  government, 
In  their  majestic,  unaffected  style, 
Than  all  ;he  oratory  of  Greece  and  Rome; 
In  them  is  plainest  taught  and  easiest  learnt, 
AVhat  makes  a  nation  happy,  and  keeps  it  so." 

The  concise  instrument  drawn  up  and  signed  in 
the  cabin  of  the  ^lay  Flower,  was  the  charter  of 
an  embiyo  Commomcealtli.  It  recognizes  the  great 
principle  of  equality,  and  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
"  civil  body  politic,"  into  which  the  signers  organized 


18  THE    UNION. 

themselves,  to  "  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just 
and  equal  laws,  ordmances,  acts,  constitutions,  and 
offices,  as  should  be  thought  most  convenient  for  the 
general  good  of  the  Colony."  This  germ  expanded. 
It  derived  nurture  from  the  alternate  indifference  and 
tyranny  of  the  home  government.  The  Colonists,  not 
of  Massachusetts  only,  but  of  Virginia  and  the  other 
provinces,  were  compelled  to  act  for  themselves. 
They  came  to  regard  the  '''•general  ^ooJ,"  not  the  honor 
of  a  tlirone,  or  the  aggrandizement  of  an  aristocracy, 
as  the  proper  end  of  government ;  and  '•'•just  and  equal 
laios,^''  as  the  legitimate  means  by  which  this  end  was 
to  be  promoted.  Long  before  their  difficulties  with 
the  Crown  reached  their  crisis,  these  ideas  had  become 
as  familiar  to  their  minds  as  household  words.  They 
were  very  unlike  the  prevailing  ideas  in  the  Old 
World.  They  found  no  place  in  the  constitutions  of 
the  most  liberal  monarchies.  Political  equality — popu- 
lar suffrage — equal  laws — the  right  of  the  majority  to 
govern — the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  as 
the  end  of  government, — these  were  principles  which, 
however  they  might  be  entertained  by  individuals, 
had  yet  for  the  first  time  to  be  enacted,  or  even  re- 
cognized by  any  European  monarchy.  And  when 
with  these  principles  is  combined  another  of  no  less 
importance,  that  of  a  representative  republic,  we  shall 
search  in  vain  for  any  adequate  exposition  of  their 
views  even  among  the  so-called  republics  of  ancient  or 
modern  times.  It  shows  an  extraordinary  elevation  of 
mind,  and  a  moral  courage  stamped  with  true  sub- 


THE    UNION.  19 

limity,  that  they  should  have  succeeded  in  divesting 
themselves  of  the  intolerable  thraldrom  of  precedent 
and  authority,  and  dared  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
their  new  structure  on  principles  wliich  no  other 
government  had  made  trial  of,  or  which  had  certainly 
never  been  tested  in  such  combinations  as  were  now 
contemplated.  These  principles  alone,  however,  were 
suited  to  the  emergency,  and  they  applied  them  with 
a  trustful  fortitude  and  a  profound  wisdom  which  have 
never  ceased  (unless  they  have  now  ceased)  to  elicit 
the  gratitude  of  their  posterity,  and  the  admiration  of 
enlightened  and  liberal  statesmen  in  all  lands. 

Without  stopping  to  illustrate  these  points  in  detail, 
let  us  advert  for  a  moment  to  that  great  principle  of 
a  representative  republic  which  they  invoked  to  har- 
monize the  conflicting  rights  and  interests  of  the  Colo- 
nies. Our  minds  are  so  familiar  with  this  principle 
that  we  are  scarcely  in  a  position  to  appreciate  the 
wisdom  which  guided  the  Convention  to  the  discovery 
of  it  (for  it  was  a  discovery),  and  led  them  to  adopt 
it  as  the  core  of  the  new  Constitution.  They  were  to 
create  a  Government  or  Governments  for  the  Colonies. 
Putting  monarchy  out  of  the  question,  these  plans 
were  before  them :  1st,  Consolidation;  the  dissolution 
of  the  thirteen  Provincial  or  State  Governments,  and 
a  general  amalgamation  under  one  republican  char- 
ter. 2dly.  Consolidation  in  the  form  of  a  pure 
democracy.  3dly.  The  organization  of  thirteen  en- 
tirely independent  Governments — republican  or  demo- 


20  THE    UNION. 

cratic.      4tlily.    A   simple  Confederation  of  thirteen 
sovereignties. 

These  were  the  only  models  to  be  found  in  the 
annals  of  the  world.  All  Governments  not  mo- 
narchical had  conformed  to  one  or  another  of  these 
types:  and  yet  the  statesmen  of  the  Revolution  had 
the  sagacity  to  see  that  they  were  alike  either  im- 
practicable or  insufficient  for  their  purposes.  Consoli- 
dation was  out  of  the  question ;  the  Colonies  would 
not  consent  to  merge  their  individual  existence  in  a 
single  organization.  A  pure  democracy  was  imprac- 
ticable even  for  the  States  as  such.  A  democracy 
requires  the  periodical  convocation  of  the  entire  body 
of  the  citizens,  to  conduct  its  legislation,  and  is  of 
course  admissible  only  in  the  case  of  States  comprising 
a  very  limited  territory.  This  was  the  favorite  scheme 
of  a  party  after  the  war;  and  to  elude  the  difficulty  just 
stated,  they  were  for  dividing  the  larger  Colonies  into 
districts  of  a  tractable  size.  The  creation  of  thirteen 
isolated  sovereignties  would  have  been  the  sure  pre- 
cursor and  occasion  of  dissensions  and  wars.  Nor 
would  a  simple  Confederation  of  such  a  cluster  of  sove- 
reignties, the  scheme  which  was  advocated  by  many  of 
the  most  patriotic  and  influential  men  of  the  nation, 
have  been  essentially  better.  Such  a  Confederation 
already  existed.  Its  inadequacy  was  matter  of  expe- 
rience. No  modiflcation  would  be  of  any  avail  which 
came  short  of  curing  its  radical  vice,  to  wit,  that  of 
providing  "legislation  for  States  or  Governments  in 
their  corporate  or  collective  capacities,  and  as  contra- 


THE    UXIOX.  21 

clistinguislicd  from  the  individuals  of  whom  they  con- 
sist." So  long  as  this  principle  was  retained,  the  States 
might  be  bound  together  in  a  league,  but  there  coidd 
be  no  national  Union.  Nor  would  a  general  govern- 
ment be  able  to  enforce  its  decrees  at  home  or  to  pro- 
tect its  foreign  interests,  if  the  execution  of  its  man- 
dates were  made  contingent  upon  the  legislation  of 
other  independent  sovereignties.*  A  new  principle 
was,  therefore  needed  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
case  ;  and  it  was  found  in  that  of  a  Representative  Re- 
pubUc.  The  sovereignty  of  the  several  States  was  left 
unimpaired  in  respect  to  all  matters  of  local  jurisdic- 
tion, while  the  Federal  Government,  springing  no  less 
directly  than  the  State  governments  from  the  bosom 
of  the  people,  and  operating  no  less  directly  upon  the 
people,  was  clothed  with  the  functions  requisite  for  the 
efficient  administration  of  all  interests  appertaining 
to  the  general  welfare  of  the  Republic.  Thus  was 
the  great  problem  solved.  From  the  confusion  and 
distraction,  the  imbecility  and  exhaustion,  the  con- 
flicting theories  and  rivalries,  of  these  emancipated 
provinces,  emerged  the  Union, — clothed  with  majesty 
and  honor,  radiant  with  celestial  beauty,  her  temples 
bound  with  a  perennial  olive-wreath,  and  lier  hands 
filled  with  such  blessings  for  the  expectant  people  as 
no  nation  but  God's  chosen  one  had  ever  dreamed  of. 
The  patriots  of  every  land  hailed  her  advent  as  the 
rising  of  a  second  sun  in  the  heavens.     The  down- 

*  See  these  points  argued  in  the  Federalist. 


22  THE    UNION. 

trodden  nations  of  Europe  found  life  and  hope  even 
in  her  far-off  smile.  And  as  her  magic  influence 
penetrated  their  dungeons,  the  martyrs  of  liberty  felt 
their  chains  lightened,  and  blessed  God  that,  although 
their  efforts  had  failed,  one  nation  had  at  length  esta- 
blished its  freedom.  It  was  in  truth  the  triumph, 
the  first  great  triumph,  of  Constitutional  Liberty. 
The  records  of  mankind  supplied  no  parallel  to  it ;  and 
it  was  a  fitting  occasion  for  a  jubilee  among  the  friends 
of  human  progress  of  every  creed  and  country. 

This  cursory  glance  at  the  difficulties  which  were 
surmounted  in  the  formation  of  our  Government  may 
serve  to  enhance  our  appreciation  of  the  Union,  and 
to  quicken  our  gratitude  to  the  men  who  founded  it. 
A  nobler  race  of  men,  or  one  who  have  a  stronger 
claim  upon  the  affectionate  veneration  of  mankind, 
the  world  has  never  seen.  It  is  impossible  that  they 
should  be  forgotten  so  long  as  integrity,  patriotism, 
and  public  virtue,  have  a  being  among  men.  Their 
names  (to  borrow  the  sublime  tribute  of  ]3aniel  Web- 
ster to  John  Hancock — a  tribute  which  we  may  even 
now  appropriate  to  the  great  orator  liimself )  have  a 
place  as  bright  and  glorious  in  the  admiration  of 
mankind,  "  as  if  they  had  been  written  in  letters  of 
light  on  the  blue  arch  of  heaven,  between  Orion  and 
the  Pleiades."  Certain  it  is,  that  if  ive  ever  cease  to 
do  them  honor,  or  to  cherish  the  work  of  their  hands, 
we  shall  deserve  the  execration  of  all  future  genera- 
tions. For,  whatever  specious  objections  may  have 
been  urged  against  the  Constitution  at  the  period  of 


TUE    UNIOX.  23 

its  adoption,  it  is  not  with  us  an  open  question 
whether  that  immortal  instrument  was  framed  with 
all  the  wisdom  which  has  been  claimed  for  it,  and 
whether  it  is  adequate  to  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  designed.  The  seal  of  more'  than  sixty  years  is 
now  upon  it,  and  its  residts  are  known  and  read  of 
all  men.  In  the  cr^-pt  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  in 
London,  is  the  tomb  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the 
architect  of  that  noble  structure,  and  the  felicitous 
inscription  upon  it  runs  thus :  Lector,  si  Monumentum 
qitcei'is,  Gircumspice  !  Reader^  if  you  seeh  Ms  Monu- 
ment, Looh  Around !  So  we  may  say  of  our  Constitu- 
tion.    If  you  would  estimate  its  value,  look  around  ! 

"  How  many  States, 
And  clustering  towns,  and  monuments  of  fame, 
And  scenes  of  glorious  deeds!" 

Contrast  the  thirteen  Colonies  of  the  Hevolution 
with  our  thirty-one  States.  And  then  contrast  the 
Republic  as  a  whole  ^dth  any  other,  even  the  most 
prosperous,  empires  of  the  globe.  I  give  utterance 
only  to  one  of  our  familiar  commonplaces  when  I 
say,  that  whether  we  regard  the  increase  of  its  popu- 
lation, the  development  of  its  resources,  the  augmen- 
tation of  its  wealth,  its  power,  and  its  influence  among 
the  nations,  or  the  steady  progress  of  its  people  in  all 
the  arts  of  a  refined  civilization,  the  history  of  this 
country  is  unexampled  in  the  annals  of  our  race. 
Without  wishing  to  chime  in  with  that  strain  of  self- 
complacent  declamation  which   has    made   so    many 


24  THE    UNIOX. 

Fourth  of  July  orations  an  offence  to  cultivated  ears, 
the  occasion  not  only  authorizes  but  compels  me  to 
say,  that  there  is  no  people  on  the  earth  so  free  as  we 
are ;  none  who  possess  such  an  affluence  of  all  the  im- 
munities and  appliances,  social  and  political,  secular 
and  religious,  essential  to  the  plenary  enjoyment  of  all 
personal  rights,  and  to  the  greatest  good  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  nation.  To  prove  this  would  be  a  work 
of  supererogation.  If  any  man  can  "  look  around" 
and  doubt  it,  he  has  mistaken  his  country,  and  should 
transfer  his  domicile  to  a  more  congenial  clime. 

Nor  is  the  extraordinary  growth  of  the  United 
States  in  all  the  elements  which  constitute  the  true 
greatness  and  glory  of  a  nation,  more  indisputable 
than  is  the  fact,  that  we  have  been  steadily  opposed 
by  most  of  the  leading  cabinets  of  Europe,  and  even 
by  the  moral  influence  of  the  British  Government 
and  press.  England  has  scarcely  yet  forgiven  us  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Whether  it  is  because 
this  Union  is  a  standing  memento  of  her  folly  and 
misgovernment,  or  because  she  is  jealous  of  a  daughter 
whose  ships  and  spindles  compete  with  her  own  in 
the  markets  of  the  globe,  certain  it  is  that  she  has 
been  disposed  to  look  upon  us  with  an  evil  eye.  No 
maternal  pride  has  ever  betrayed  her  into  a  spontane- 
ous burst  of  admiration  at  the  enterprise,  the  intel- 
ligence, and  the  moral  worth  of  her  trans-atlantic 
ofl'spring.  When  James  the  Second,  one  of  her  faith- 
less kings,  whom  she  drove  in  indignation  from  his 
throne,  overlooked  from  the  French  coast  the  great 


THE    UNION.  25 

naval  action  of  La  Hognc,  and  saw  the  British,  after 
putting  to  flight  that  imposing  squadron  with  which 
all  his  hopes  were  embarked,  pursue  their  enemy 
in  boats  into  the  very  shallows,  and  set  fl.re  to 
the  ships  which  would  otherwise  have  escaped,  he 
could  not  restrain  his  admiration  of  their  gallantry, 
but  cried  out,  "  Ah,  none  but  my  brave  English  could 
do  this!"  But  no  such  paroxysm  of  generosity  has 
ever  overcome  our  venerable  mother  in  contemplating 
this  fair  country.  Instead  of  exclaiming,  as  she  has 
marked  the  gradual  transition  of  this  vast  wilderness 
into  a  cultivated  continent,  covered  with  towns  and 
cities,  and  smiling  harvests,  "  None  but  my  brave 
children  could  have  done  this  !"  she  has  too  commonly 
detracted  from  our  just  fame,  and  disparaged  our 
achievements.  This  has  not,  liowever,  affected,  in 
the  slightest  degree,  the  progress  of  the  country. 
Advancing  with  a  constantly  accelerated  momentum, 
we  have  now  reached  a  position  which  secures  to  us 
at  least  the  outward  respect  of  cabinets  which  have 
no  love  for  our  principles.* 

Certain  it  is,  that  neither  defamatory  presses  nor 
official  decrees,  neither  standing  armies  nor  a  domi- 
ciliary espionage,  nor  all  these  combined,  have  been 
able  to  conceal  the  truth  from  the  simple-minded  pea- 
santry and  the  degraded  operatives  of  Europe.  Alike 
in  their  busy  workshops  and  in  their  remote  mountain 

""  It  is  pleasant  to  add,  that  a  great  and  beneficent  change  seems  to 
have  taken  pUice  in  the  feeling  of  lOngland  towards  this  conntry,  within 
the  ten  years  which  have  elapsed  since  this  Discourse  was  written. 


26  THE    UNION. 

chalets,  the  name  of  the  United  States  is  a  talisman  to 
them.     The  salutation,  "I  am  an  American  citizen," 
is  the  best  passport  a  stranger  can  have  to  their  con- 
fidence.     Often  have  I   seen  their  eyes  sparkle  on 
hearing  it ;  and  the  sight  made  me  proud  of  my  coun- 
try.    It  was  the  boast  of  the  ancient  Roman  that  the 
watchword,  "  I  am  a  Roman  citizen,"  would  secure 
him  personal  respect   throughout  the  known  world. 
But  it  was  the  dread  of  the  imperial  eagles  which 
insured  his  safety.     No  such  sentiment  protects  the 
American  abroad.     It  is  not  the  inspiration  of  fear, 
but  of  love,  which  lights  up  the  countenances  of  the 
common  people  at  his  approach.     They  know  little  of 
politics,  and  less  of  geography.     They  have  read  but 
few  books.     They  could  give  no  very  lucid  account  of 
this  country.     But  they  have  these  two  ideas  about  it 
inwrought  into  their  minds,  viz.,  that  it  is  a  free  coun- 
try,  and  that  the  people   are  comfortable  and   con- 
tented.    This  makes  it  a  land  of  hope  to  them.     This 
makes  them  long  to  get  here.     This  constitutes  the 
subtle,  mysterious  influence,  which  has  gone  out  from 
our  Union  into  all  the  hamlets  and  all  the  mines  and 
forges  of  Europe ;  and  which  is  drawing  their  tenantry 
towards   us  with    an   agency  as   irresistible   as   that 
which  keeps  the  needle  to  the  pole.      This  it  was 
which  made  an  honest,  truthful  peasant,  who  lived  in 
one  of  those  lofty  valleys  at  the  base  of  Mont  Blanc, 
say  to  a  party  of  Americans,  a  year  or  two  since: 
"  Not  less  than  two  hundred  of  my  neighbors  have 
gone  from   this   small  valley   to   your    country,  and 


THE    UNION.  27 

nothing  but  the  want  of  means  keeps  me  from  fol- 
lowing them."  I  say  again,  I  was  proud  to  hear  it. 
These  unbought  testimonies  to  the  aU-pervacling  and 
blessed  influence  of  my  country — testimonies  picked 
up  by  the  wayside,  and  by  the  cotter's  hearth,  and 
the  shepherd's  fold,  from  reapers,  and  wagoners,  and 
guides,  and  laborers — are  worth  more  than  all  the 
studied  compliments  ever  bestowed  upon  America  by 
courtly  diplomatists.  It  is  something  to  belong  to  a 
land  which  looms  up  in  this  way  before  all  nations, 
as  a  land  of  peace  and  plenty,  of  virtue  and  safety — 
as  an  asylum  where  the  oppressed  may  find  a  refuge 
from  tyranny,  and  the  poor  the  amplest  scope  and 
encouragement  for  frugal  industry.  It  is  something 
to  belong  to  a  land  which  is  known  wherever  the  foot 
of  civihzed  man  has  trod,  not  by  her  Caesars  and 
Napoleons,  not  by  her  bloody  wars  and  conquests,  but 
by  her  Washingtons  and  Franklins,  her  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  her  equal  laws,  and  her  thriving 
populations. 

That  such  a  land  should  draw  upon  the  Old  World 
is  not  surprising.  The  philosophy  of  the  fact  is  suffi- 
ciently simple,  and  it  was  set  forth  by  one  of  the  illus- 
trious orators  of  the  Revolution  with  a  felicity  which 
is  equalled  only  by  his  extraordinary  prophetic  an- 
nouncement of  the  fact  itself  Immediately  after  the 
close  of  the  Revolution,  Patrick  Henry  delivered  a 
speech  of  great  power  in  the  Assembly  of  Virginia,  in 
favor  of  a  liberal  poHcy  on  the  subject  of  immigration. 
Contrasting   the   expanse  of  our   territory  with  the 


28  THE    UNION. 

scanty  population,  lie  observed,  "  Your  great  want, 
Sir,  is  the  want  of  men,  and  these  you  must  have,  and 
will  have  speedily,  if  you  arc  wise.  Do  you  ask,  liow 
are  you  to  get  them '?  Open  your  doors.  Sir,  and  they 
Avill  come  in ;  the  population  of  the  Old  World  is  full 
to  overflowing ;  that  population  is  ground,  too,  by  the 
oppressions  of  the  governments  under  which  they  live. 
Sir,  they  are  already  standing  on  tiptoe  upon  their 
native  shores,  and  looking  to  your  coasts  with  a  wish- 
ful and  longing  eye ;  they  see  here  a  land  blessed  with 
natural  and  political  advantages,  which  are  not  equalled 
by  those  of  any  other  country  upon  earth  ;  a  land 
on  which  a  gracious  Providence  hath  emptied  the  horn 
of  abundance ;  a  land  over  which  Peace  hath  now 
stretched  forth  her  white  wings,  and  where  Content 
and  Plenty  lie  down  at  every  door  !  Sir,  they  see 
something  still  more  attractive  than  all  this :  they  see 
a  land  in  which  Liberty  hath  taken  up  her  abode ; 
that  Liberty  whom  they  had  considered  as  a  fabled 
goddess,  existing  only  in  the  fancies  of  poets ;  they 
see  here  a  real  divinity,  her  altars  rising  on  every 
hand  throughout  these  happy  States,  her  glories 
chanted  by  three  millions  of  tongues,  and  the  whole 
region  smiling  under  her  blessed  influence.  Sir,  let 
but  this  celestial  goddess,  Liberty,  stretch  forth  her  fair 
hand  toward  the  people  of  the  Old  World,  tell  them 
to  come,  and  bid  them  welcome;  and  you  will  see 
them  pouring  in  from  the  north,  from  the  south,  from 
the  east,  and  from  the  west ;  your  wilderness  will  be 
cleared  and  settled,  your  deserts  will  smile,  your  ranks 


THE    UXIOX.  29 

will  be  filled ;  and  you  will  soon  be  in  a  condition  to 
defy  the  powers  of  any  adversary." 

Liberty  did  "  stretch  forth  her  hand  towards  the 
Old  World,"  and  this  eloquent  prophecy  glided 
into  history.  The  three  millions  who  chanted  her 
glories  have  now  become  twenty-five  millions ;  and 
the  mighty  current  of  humanity  is  setting  towards  our 
shores  with  a  depth  and  a  majesty  which  are  enough 
to  awe  every  thoughtful  beholder.  There  are  various 
aspects,  economical,  political,  and  religious,  in  which 
this  imposing  movement  may  be  viewed.  The  two- 
fold object  for  which  it  is  cited  here  is  to  illustate,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  unprecedented  growth  of  our  coun- 
try ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  Anta?an  hold  which  this 
Union  has  taken  upon  the  other  hemisphere.  With- 
out restricting  the  remark  to  this  wonderful  migration 
from  the  Old  AVorld  to  the  Xew,  we  are  safe  in  affirm- 
ing that  the  sublime  spectacle  of  a  self-governed  and 
well-governed  nation  has  told  with  prodigious  eff'ect 
upon  the  dynasties  of  Europe.  For  "  the  greatest 
engine  of  moral  power  known  to  human  aff'airs  is  an 
organized,  prosperous  State.  All  that  man  in  his 
individual  capacity  can  do — all  that  he  can  eff'ect  by 
his  private  fraternities,  by  his  ingenious  discoveries 
and  wonders  of  art,  or  by  his  influence  over  others — is 
as  nothing,  compared  with  the  collective,  perpetuated 
influence  on  human  affairs  and  human  happiness  of  a 
well-constituted,  powerful  commonwealth.  It  blesses 
generations  with  its  sweet  influence.  Even  the  barren 
earth  seems  to  pour  out  its  fruits  under  a  system  where 


30  THE    UNION. 

rights  and  property  are  secure ;  whilst  her  fairest  gar- 
dens are  bhghted  by  despotism."*  Such  an  example 
has  been  before  the  world  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury ;  and  while  it  is  impossible  to  trace  the  influences 
which  have  gone  out  from  it  upon  the  other  hemi- 
sphere, all  parties  are  agreed  that  it  has  had  a  most 
effective  agency  in  bringing  about  the  ameliorating 
changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the  European 
Governments.  The  reforms  in  those  governments, 
which  have  consisted  essentially  in  raising  the  people 
from  a  condition  of  political  nonentity  to  a  substan- 
tive power  in  the  State,  have  drawn  their  animating 
breath  and  derived  their  most  eflective  support,  from 
the  precedent  supplied  by  these  United  States.  If  the 
Nesselrodes  and  Metternichs  of  the  day  are  competent 
witnesses,  this  country  has  been  the  great  laboratory 
from  whence  "  liberal  ideas "  have  been  continually 
flitting  across  the  ocean  and  disturbing  the  Dead  Sea 
tranquillity  of  the  venerable  despotisms  of  Europe. 
The  extent  to  which  these  ideas  have  permeated  the 
masses  there  is  really  surprising,  when  one  considers 
the  vigilance  and  severity  with  which  tyranny  every- 
where guards  its  usurpations.  Many  a  generous  strug- 
gle has  proved  abortive,  and  hecatombs  of  brave  but 
unfortunate  patriots  have  been  immolated  to  the 
Moloch  of  absolutism ;  but  the  cause  of  freedom  has 
on  the  whole  advanced.  The  nations  are  not  where 
they  were  at  the  commencement  of  this  century ;  and 

*  Mr.  Edward  Everett. 


THE    UNIOX.  31 

unless  we  betray  our  trust,  and  extinguish  tlic  light 
which  now  allures  them  on  to  freedom,  there  is  little 
likelihood  that  they  will  ever  consent  to  resume  their 
chains.  If  we  guard  this  vestal  flame  upon  which  so 
many  anxious  eyes  are  turned,  the  pohtical  renova- 
tion of  the  world  must  go  on.  Other  lands  will  be 
emancipated,  and  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  poet  will 
be  realized : 

"  I  saw  the  expectant  nations  stand, 
To  catch  the  coming  flame  in  turn  ; 
I  saw  from  ready  hand  to  hand 

The  clear,  tho'  struggling,  glory  burn. 

"And  each,  as  she  received  the  flame. 
Lighted  her  altar  with  its  ray ; 
Then,  smiling  to  the  next  who  came. 
Speeded  it  on  its  sparkling  way." 

No  man  who  believes  that  there  is  a  Providence, 
can  take  even  a  brief  retrospect  of  our  history,  like 
that  which  has  now  engaged  our  attention,  with- 
out discovering  innumerable  evidences  of  his  benig- 
nant agency.  He  who  does  not  see  a  Divine  hand 
directing  and  controlling  the  whole  course  of  our 
affairs,  from  the  landing  of  the  colonists  at  James- 
town and  Plymouth  until  the  present  hour,  would 
hardly  have  seen  the  pillar  of  fire  had  he  been  with 
the  Hebrews  in  the  wilderness.  This  Union  is  not 
of  man.  It  is  the  work  of  God.  Among  the 
achievements  of  his  wisdom  and  beneficence  in  con- 
ducting the   secular  concerns  of  the  world,  it  must 


32  THE    UNION. 

be  ranked  as  one  of  his  crreatest  and  best  works. 
And  he  wlio  wonld  destroy  it,  is  chargeable  with  the 
impiety  of  attem]jting  to  subvert  a  structure  which  is 
eminently  adapted  to  illustrate  the  perfections  of  the 
Deity,  and  to  bless  the  whole  family  of  man. 

There  are,  however, — the  fact  cannot  be  disguised, — 
parties  actually  at  work,  endeavoring  to  destroy  the 
Union.  A  party  at  the  South  and  another  party  at 
the  North,  the  poles  apart  in  their  speculative  views 
of  the  subject  which  agitates  them,  and  inflamed  with 
a  bitter  mutual  hostility,  have  virtually  joined  hands 
for  the  purpose  of  demolishing  this  Government.  This 
is  not,  indeed,  as  to  one  of  these  parties,  the  osten- 
sible object  they  have  in  view ;  but  it  is  essentially 
involved  in  that  object,  and  they  know  it.  They  must, 
therefore,  be  held  to  the  responsibility  of  aiming  at 
a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  equally  with  those  inha- 
bitants of  the  Southern  States  who  avow  this  as  their 
aim. 

The  subject  which  has  occasioned  this  commotion 
is  Slavery.  The  Southern  Disunionists  would  secede, 
because  Congress,  at  its  late  session,  passed  certain 
acts  abridging,  as  they  allege,  the  rights  of  the  slave- 
holding  States ;  and  the  Northern  Disunionists  insist 
upon  the  repeal  of  a  law  passed  at  the  same  time, 
entitled  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  even  though  its 
abrogation  should  involve  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
My  business  as  a  Northern  man,  and  a  citizen  of  a 
free  State,  is  with  the  latter  of  these  parties,  or  rather 


THE  rxiox.  33 

^yith  the  North  generally.  In  the  few  observations 
I  am  about  to  make  on  the  subject,  I  shall  simply 
reitei-ate  sentiments  which  have  been  so  often  and  so 
eloquently  expressed  both  in  Congress  and  out  of  it, 
that  they  have  become  familiar  to  every  well-informed 
citizen.  But  I  may  say  that  the  man  who  can  put 
the  American  Union,  with  its  untold  and  inconceiv- 
able blessings  into  one  scale,  and  the  repeal  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  into  the  other,  and  then  strike 
the  balance  in  favor  of  the  latter,  is  without  a  proto- 
type in  the  liistory  of  the  race,  until  we  get  back  to 
the  record  of  that  primeval  tempter  who  said  to  our 
first  mother,  "•  Ye  shall  not  surely  die." 

"  She  plucked,  she  eat ! 
Earth  felt  the  wound,  aud  Nature  from  her  seat, 
Sighing  through  all  her  works,  gave  signs  of  woe, 
That  all  was  lost!" 

In  sa^inor  this,  I  utterlv  disclaim  anv  desisrn  to  be- 
come  the  champion  of  Slavery.  I  have  never  set  my- 
self to  defend  it ;  and  by  the  grace  of  God  I  never  will. 
I  concur  in  the  estimate  which  is  put  upon  it  by  the 
people  of  the  Xorth,  and  by  tens  of  thousands  of  our 
Southern  countrymen,  that  it  is  a  colossal  e^il ;  and 
that  no  consummation  is  more  devoutly  to  be  wished 
and  prayed  for  than  its  removal.  But  I  can  as  httle 
undertake  the  championship  of  Northern  agitators 
and  fanatics  as  that  of  Slavery.  I  beheve  they  are 
the  worst  enemies  of  the  slave,  and  the  most  efficient 
protectors   of  Slavery ;    and  as  such,   I  can  have  no 


34  THE    UNION. 

fellowship  with  them.  The  law  to  which  they  object 
may  be,  or  it  may  not  be,  defective  or  unjust  in  some 
of  its  provisions.  If  it  is,  it  will  no  doubt  at  the 
proper  time  be  amended ;  if  it  is  not,  it  will  stand. 
But  what  we  are  called  upon  to  discountenance,  is 
the  spirit  in  which  this  excitement  is  promoted — the 
recklessness  and  violence  with  which  the  uncondi- 
tional repeal  of  the  obnoxious  law  is  demanded,  irre- 
spective of  consequences — the  abusive  attacks  which 
are  constantly  made  upon  the  South — and  the  whole 
system  of  measures  put  in  operation  to  alienate  the 
two  portions  of  the  confederacy,  and  bring  about  a 
disruption. 

However  the  fact  may  be  contemned  by  the  radical 
Abolitionists,  it  behooves  us  all  to  remember,  what 
even  the  cursory  retrospect  presented  in  this  discourse 
must  have  made  sufficiently  manifest,  that  the  Union 
of  these  States  was  a  matter  of  compromise.  Ob- 
structed as  it  was  by  the  most  serious  impediments,  it 
could  never  have  been  effected  had  not  all  the  parties 
concerned  been  animated  by  a  rare  spirit  of  accom- 
modation. General  Washington,  in  submitting  the 
draft  of  the  new  Constitution  to  Congress,  thus  ex- 
presses himself  in  his  official  letter  as  the  President  of 
the  Convention :  "In  all  our  deliberations  on  this 
subject,  we  kept  steadily  in  our  view  that  which  ap- 
pears to  us  the  greatest  interest  of  every  true  Ame- 
rican, the  consolidation  of  our  Union,  in  which  is 
involved  our  prosperity,  felicity,  safety,  perhaps  our 
national    existence.      This    important   consideration, 


THE    UNIOX.  35 

seriously  and  deeply  impressed  on  our  minds,  led 
each  State  in  the  Convention  to  be  less  rigid  on  points 
of  inferior  magnitude  than  might  have  been  other- 
wise expected ;  and  thus  the  Constitution  which  we 
now  present  is  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity,  and  of 
that  mutual  deference  and  concession  which  the  pecu- 
liarity of  our  political  situation  rendered  indispen- 
sable." 

In  this  spirit  the  Union  originated,  and  in  this 
spirit  it  has,  under  God's  blessing,  been  preserved. 
On  most  of  the  important  measures  of  the  government, 
the  country  has  been  di\dded  into  two  great  parties. 
We  have  passed  through  various  crises,  which  have 
tested  the  loyalty  of  one  party  or  of  the  other,  as 
the  case  might  be,  as  in  a  fiery  furnace.  Take  for  ex- 
ample the  following  measures :  Jay's  Treaty — the  Em- 
bargo— the  War  of  181*2 — the  Missouri  question — the 
Nullification  controversy — the  admission  of  Texas — 
and  the  IMexican  War.  Each  of  these  measures  was 
liighly  offensive  to  a  large  portion  of  the  American 
people.  The  legislation  of  Congress  was,  in  some  of 
the  cases,  resisted  by  statesmen  of  the  most  eminent 
abilities,  as  being  in  the  face  of  the  Constitution,  and 
destructive  to  our  best  interests.  But  when  the  acts 
were  passed,  the  law-abiding  spirit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  began  to  work,  and  all  parties  acquiesced.  We 
have  a  striking  illustration  of  this  in  one  of  the  most 
recent  of  the  measures  just  mentioned, — the  admission 
of  Texas.  The  major  part  of  the  population  in  the 
free  States  regarded  this,  in  the  manner  in  which  it 


36  THE    UNION. 

was  done,  as  a  gross  invasion  of  the  Constitution.  A 
distinguished  citizen  of  South  CaroHna,  formerly  Go- 
vernor of  that  State,  has  remarked,  in  a  letter  recently 
published,  that  "  the  admission  of  Texas  furnished  a 
far  greater  provocation  to  the  North  to  secede,  than 
the  admission  of  California  does  to  the  South,  with 
the  auxiliary  stipulations  incident  to  the  former."* 
But  we  did  not  secede.  Nobody  talked  of  seceding, 
except  the  party  who  are  driving  at  disunion  now. 
The  sober  sense  and  enlightened  patriotism  of  the  mass 
of  the  people,  fortified  by  sixty  years'  experience,  have 
taught  them  the  necessity  of  forbearance,  and  made 
them  feel  that  it  is  far  better  to  submit  even  to  mea- 
sures which  they  believe  to  be  wrong  and  hurtful,  than 
to  break  up  the  Union.  They  have  no  notion  of  set- 
ting the  ship  on  fire  because  the  captain  deals  out  some 
obnoxious  orders.  They  choose  rather  to  wait  till 
the  ship  returns  to  port,  and  then,  if  they  can,  get  a 
new  captain.  In  this  spirit  the  compromise  measures 
of  the  last  session  ought  to  be  treated.  They  were 
not  party  measures,  for  none  of  the  recognized  parties 
was,  as  such,  satisfied  with  them.  But  they  supplied 
the  only  platform  on  which  men  of  all  parties  could 
meet ;  and  this  is  a  sufficient  reason  why  the  country 
should  acquiesce  in  them. 

That  a  statute  respecting  fugitive  slaves  should  form 
a  part  of  this  series  of  pacificatory  measures,  was  a 
thing  of  course.     One  of  the  chief  compromises  of  the 

*  General  James  Harailtou's  Letter  to  the  People  of  South  Carolina. 


THE    UNION.  37 


Constitution  itself  relates  to  this  very  subject.  The 
South  would  not  come  into  the  Union  without  some 
guarantee  on  this  point,  and  the  following  section 
(Art.  IV,  Sect.  2)  was  adopted  by  the  Convention — 
I  believe  unanimously:  "No  person  held  to  service  or 
labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping 
into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regu- 
lation therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or 
labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  i)arty 
to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due."  A  law 
was  enacted  under  Washington's  administration,  and 
with  his  approval,  to  carry  this  provision  of  the  Con- 
stitution into  effect.*  This  law  had  of  late  years 
been  rendered  nugatory  in  some  of  the  States  by  local 
legislation,  and  it  became  necessary  to  replace  it  with 
another.  This  is  the  statute  which  is  now  exciting 
so  much  opposition,  and  the  execution  of  which  has 
been  resisted  with  so  much  violence.  These  demon- 
strations, although  professedly  directed  against  some 
of  the  details  of  the  act,  are  to  a  great  extent  levelled 


*  It  must  be  recorded,  to  the  lasting  honor  of  Pennsylvania,  that  she 
was  the  first  of  the  thirteen  States  to  abolish  slavery.  This  was  done 
under  the  administration  of  President  Reed,  in  1780.  And  it  is  a  circum- 
stance worthy  of  note,  that  the  act  embraces  a  provision  for  the  extradi- 
tion of  fugitive  slaves.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  its  eleventh  sec- 
tion :  "  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted,  that  this  act,  or  anything 
in  it  contained,  shall  not  give  any  relief  or  shelter  to  any  absconding  or 
runaway  negro,  or  mulatto  slave,  or  servant,  who  has  absented  himself,  or 
shall  absent  himself,  from  his  or  her  owner,  master,  or  mistress,  residing 
in  any  other  State  or  country;  but  such  owner,  master,  or  mistress,  shall 
have  like  right  and  aid  to  demand,  claim,  and  take  away  his  slave  or 
servant,  as  he  might  have  had  in  case  this  act  had  not  been  hiade.'' 


38  THE    UNION. 

against  its  principle.  We  do  the  party  concerned  in 
them  no  injustice  in  supposing  that  they  would  be 
equally  hostile  to  any  adequate  law  designed  to  effect 
the  same  object. 

In  this  view,  one  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the 
flexible  morality  which  can  declaim  fiercely  about  the 
inalienable  rights  of  man,  while  it  is  trampling  under 
its  feet  one  of  the  most  sacred  covenants  which  ever 
bound  a  people  together.  There  is  no  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  Constitutional  pro- 
vision on  this  subject.  To  that  provision,  in  common 
with  the  others,  our  fathers  assented,  and  we  have 
assented.  It  is  one  of  the  terms  of  a  compact  into 
which  we  have,  as  a  people,  entered  with  one  another  ; 
and  which  is  just  as  binding  upon  us  as  any  other  of 
its  provisions.  Our  judgment  may  condemn  it.  It 
may  be  revolting  to  our  feelings.  But  this  is  nothing 
to  the  purpose.  We  are  under  no  obligation  to  re- 
main in  a  country  which  we  believe  to  be  governed 
by  oppressive  laws ;  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  our 
flying  to  any  land  which  rejoices  in  a  milder  code  and 
a  more  rational  liberty.  But  as  long  as  we  continue 
citizens  of  this  Union,  we  must  abide  by  its  Constitu- 
tion, and  obey  its  laws.*  And  we  cannot  consent  to 
take  lessons  in  ethics  from  those  who  deny  this  propo- 
sition. The  first  requisite  we  demand  in  a  teacher  of 
morals,  is  that  he  be  a  moral  man  himself.    And  when 


*  It  is  not  necessary,  for  the  purposes  of  the  present  argument,  to  state 
the  limitations  of  this  principle. 


THE    UNION.  39 

a  covenant-breaker  comes  to  expound  to  us  our  obli- 
gations, we  feel  disposed  to  decline  his  instructions 
and  to  say  to  him, 

"  Your  nickname,  virtue  ;  vice,  you  should  have  spoke  ; 
For  virtue's  office  never  breaks  men's  troth." 

To  some  persons  this  may  sound  very  unfeeling 
as  regards  the  slave.  I  will  not  reply  by  saying,  that 
the  Apostle  Paul  thought  it  no  sin  to  send  a  fugitive 
back  to  his  master.  But  this  is  a  case  where  we 
are  not  at  liberty  to  take  counsel  merely  of  our  sympa- 
thies. The  obligation  of  contracts  is  not  made  con- 
tingent upon  men's  feelings ;  and  if  this  plea  was  to 
be  urged  at  all,  it  shoidd  have  been  before  the  Consti- 
tution was  adopted.  We  do  not,  however,  rest  our 
answer  to  the  objection  upon  this  ground  only.  We  are 
not  willing  to  concede  a  monopoly  of  all  the  sympathy 
which  is  entertained  for  the  bondman,  to  the  party 
which  is  clamoring  for  an  unconditional  repeal  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  So  far  from  it,  we  claim  to  be 
the  truest  friends  of  the  slave.  We  believe  that,  as 
well  for  nations  and  in  respect  to  public  affairs,  as  for 
individuals,  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy;"  and  that 
kindness  to  the  colored  race,  no  less  than  patriotism, 
demands  a  faithful  adherence,  on  the  part  of  all  con- 
cerned, to  the  stipulations  of  the  Constitution.  By 
that  instrument,  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  slavery 
is  reserved  to  the  several  States.  We  have  no  more 
right  to  dictate  to  South  Carolina  what  she  shall  do 
with  her  slaves,  than  she  has  to  prescribe  to  Pennsyl- 


40  THE    UNION. 

vania  what  railroads  we  shall  construct,  or  what  banks 
we  shall  charter.  Nor  does  the  responsibility  of  her 
system  of  servitude  any  more  attach  to  us,  than  does 
the  responsibility  of  the  serfdom  of  Russia. 

The  Northern  abolitionists  (I  use  the  term  in  its 
technical  sense),  impressed,  it  would  seem,  with  a  con- 
viction that  their  proper  responsibilities,  sectional  and 
national,  secular  and  spiritual,  are  not  commensurate 
with  their  capacities,  have  volunteered  to  shoulder  by 
much  the  heaviest  portion  of  the  obligations  resting 
upon  the  Southern  States.  The  South  declines  the 
proffered  civility ;  but  they  press  their  attentions.  The 
South  remonstrates,  on  the  ground  that  the  contem- 
plated interference  would  be  highly  prejudicial  to  her 
tranquilhty;  but  her  officious  friends  insist  upon  it 
as  their  right  to  help  her  manage  her  private  affairs. 
The  South  at  length  puts  herself  in  an  attitude  of 
resistance,  and  points  to  the  solemn  compact  in  the 
Constitution ;  but  they  reply,  with  an  air  of  triumph, 
that  they  are  governed  by  a  "  Jdglier  Jaw"  and  that 
under  that  law,  it  is  not  only  their  right,  but  their 
duty,  to  take  charge  of  her  slaves.  And  what  have 
they  accomplished  by  this  Quixotic  generosity?  They 
have  riveted  the  fetters  of  the  slave.  They  have  de- 
terred at  least  three  States,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
Kentucky,  from  carrying  out  the  plans  of  prospective 
emancipation  they  were  just  entering  upon  when 
this  outbreak  of  misguided  philanthropy  occurred  at 
the  North.  They  have  scattered  the  seeds  of  discord 
and  alienation  broadcast  through    the   Confederacy. 


_  J 


THE    UNION.  41 

In  a  word,  protesting  that  they  were  the  exckisive 
friends  of  the  slave,  they  have  taken  him  to  their 
breasts  with  a  hug  which  reminds  one  of  the  embrace 
of  that  terrific  automaton  of  the  Virgin  found  in  the 
dungeons  of  the  "  Holy  Inquisition,"  which,  clasping 
the  victim  in  its  arms  and  pressing  him  to  its  bosom, 
transfixed  him  with  a  thousand  concealed  spikes  and 
poniards.  And  their  fitting  auxiliaries  in  all  this 
crusade  against  the  South,  have  been  British  emissa- 
ries; tlie  subjects  of  that  crown  which,  in  the  flice  of 
the  remonstrances  of  some  of  the  Colonies,  planted 
slavery  in  our  soil  and  fostered  it  into  manhood,  and 
which  at  this  moment  has  millions  of  subjects  at 
home  and  in  its  Colonies,  who  would-  be  the  gainers 
in  physical  comfort,  and  even  in  spiritual  privilege, 
by  exchanging  places  with  our  Southern  slaves. 

The  failure  of  all  past  efforts  at  the  North  to  ame- 
liorate the  condition  of  the  slave,  is  not  more  palpable 
than  is  the  certainty,  that  the  grand  expedient  now 
contemplated  would  prove  equally  abortive.  For, 
suppose  radicaUsm  could  achieve  its  purpose  and  split 
the  Union  to  pieces,  how  icould  this  help  the  slave? 
Does  any  man,  not  a  tenant  of  a  Lunatic  Asylum, 
beheve  that  Disimion  would  mitigate  the  evils  of 
Southern  servitude  ]  Would  it  bring  about  a  relax- 
ation of  the  laws  which  regulate  it  ?  Would  it  incline 
the  planters  to  put  books  and  pens  into  the  hands  of 
their  slaves?  Would  it  facilitate  the  flight  of  fugi- 
tives? Would  it  conciliate  the  various  legislatures 
towards    schemes    of   emancipation?     Xo    one   is    so 


42  THE    UNION, 

infatuated  as  to  affirm  this.  The  most  frantic  aboli- 
tionists must  be  aware,  that  the  disruption  of  the 
Union  would  put  a  cup  of  gall  and  wormwood  to  the 
lips  of  every  slave;  that  it  would  be  a  signal  for  the 
enactment  of  more  stringent  laws  than  have  ever 
appeared  upon  the  Southern  statute-books;  and  for 
the  institution  of  a  system  of  surveillance  on  every 
plantation  and  in  every  household,  the  rigor  of  which 
has  no  parallel  in  the  records  of  American  bondage. 

In  the  name,  then,  of  three  millions  of  slaves,  w^e 
protest  against  all  schemes  for  dissolving  the  Union. 
We  believe  that,  terrible  as  such  a  catastrophe  would 
be  to  the  whites,  it  Avould  be  no  less  so  to  the  blacks ; 
that  it  would  abridge  their  privileges,  augment  their 
burdens,  and  postpone  by  many  years  the  period  of 
their  ultimate  emancipation.  We  should  be  crimin- 
ally indifferent  to  their  welfare,  as  well  as  faithless 
to  those  sacred  bonds  which  have  hitherto  united 
the  North  and  the  South  in  an  honorable  and  affec- 
tionate brotherhood,  if  we  could  remain  silent  when 
sincere  but  mistaken  religionists  and  unprincipled 
demagogues  have  well-nigh  precipitated  the  country 
into  this  frightful  abyss.  And  we  are  all  the  more 
disposed  to  break  silence,  because  we  believe  that,  of 
the  two  classes  of  agitators  just  named,  the  latter  has 
a  great  deal  more  to  do  with  the  present  excitement 
than  the  former.  There  is,  it  is  true,  a  settled  convic- 
tion in  the  minds  of  the  Northern  people  that  slavery 
is  a  great  evil,  and  there  is  an  anxious  desire  to  see 
the  country  rid  of  it.     But,  left  to  itself,  this  feeling 


I 


THE    UNION.  43 

is  as  still  as  it  is  strong  and  deep;  and  it  never  could 
have  been  lashed  into  the  foaming  surges  which  now 
break  over  the  land,  but  through  the  systematic, 
crafty,  and  wicked  exertions  of  political  demagogues. 
There  were  men  in  the  ancient  republics  whose  motto 
it  was, 

"  Better  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in  Heaven  ;" 

and  they  cared  not  what  became  of  their  country,  so 
tliey  were  promoted.  Monsters,  it  has  been  said,  cannot 
perpetuate  their  species ;  but  this  species,  if  not  per- 
petuated, has  been  reproduced,  for  we  indubitably  have 
them  among  ourselves.  Like  Erostratus,  who,  when 
put  to  the  torture,  confessed  that  his  motive  in  setting 
fire  to  the  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  was  to  gain 
himself  a  name  with  posterity,  these  men  appear  to 
be  intent  upon  attracting  to  themselves  the  attention 
of  the  world,  even  though  it  can  be  done  only  by 
applying  the  torch  of  civil  war  to  this  glorious  Union. 
Let  us  hope  that  a  mercifid  Providence  may  baffle 
their  designs ;  that  the  upright  and  law-abiding  people 
whom  they  have,  for  the  time,  bewitched  with  their 
enchantments,  may  detect  the  real  character  of  their 
leaders ;  and  that  these  ebullitions  of  fanaticism  may 
soon  give  place  to  those  patriotic  and  conciliatory 
sentiments  which,  in  every  previous  crisis  of  our 
history,  have  proved  equally  efficacious  against  do- 
mestic faction  and  foreign  aggression. 

It  would  be  well  for  all  classes  of  our  citizens,  at 
this  critical  juncture,  to  look  Disunion  fairly  in  the 


44  THE    UNION. 

face.  Its  unavoidable  effects  upon  the  colored  popu- 
lation constitute,  but  a  tithe  of  the  evils  which  would 
flow  from  it.  Not  to  exhaust  your  patience  by  going 
into  the  question  at  large,  let  it  suffice  to  say,  that 
Disunion  not  only  involves  a  fratricidal  war,  but  that 
it  would  undoubtedly  lead  to  a  continued  series  of 
contentions  and  disruptions  among  the  States.  It 
seems  to  be  taken  for  granted  that,  if  we  divide,  we 
divide  into  two  confederations.  But  why  stop  at 
two "?  It  would  be  quite  as  natural,  certainly,  to  form 
four  confederations  as  two.  And  how  long  should  we 
pause  at  four  ?  A  sense  of  common  danger  might 
hold  the  new  combinations  together  for  a  season ;  but 
this  would  give  place,  after  a  while,  to  local  and  more 
potent  influences.  The  strength  of  the  Union  lies 
not  in  its  physical,  but  its  moral  power.  Its  real 
buttresses  are  not  its  army  and  navy,  its  mines  and 
factories,  its  canals  and  railroads — not  even  its  writ- 
ten constitutions  and  charters,  its  laws  and  tribunals ; 
but  its  sacred  traditions,  the  inwrought  and,  until 
lately,  universal  conviction  of  its  unparalleled  benefits, 
and  that  sense  of  its  sanctity  which  has  made  the 
nation  regard  it  with  a  reverential  awe  akin  to  that 
with  which  the  Hebrews  looked  upon  the  ark  of  the 
covenant.  The  feeling  has  been  that  the  Union  was 
an  ark  of  the  covenant  to  us, — that  it  was  the  re- 
pository of  our  most  precious  national  mementoes, 
the  symbol  of  the  Divine  presence  with  us,  and  the 
pledge  of  his  future  protection.  This  feeling  is  not 
to  be  ascribed  to  any  specific  training.     It  is  no  set 


THE    UNION.  45 

lesson  we  have  learned  at  school,  or  which  has  been 
drilled  into  us  like  a  code  of  morals  or  a  code  of 
manners  at  home.  We  have  inherited  it  from  the 
mothers  who  bore  us.  We  have  inhaled  it  in  the  air 
of  heaven.  It  has  gathered  nourishment  from  the 
scenes  of  our  firesides,  from  our  daily  employments, 
from  our  journeys,  from  our  sanctuaries,  from  our  na- 
tional anniversaries,  from  all  our  experiences  and  all 
our  associations.  It  has  grown  with  our  growth  and 
strengthened  with  our  strength,  and  imperceptibly 
become  a  part  of  our  being.  And  this  it  is  which, 
under  God,  has  made  the  Union  so  strong ;  it  is  be- 
cause its  roots  are  struck  down  into  our  hearts,  and 
so  interlaced  with  the  very  framework  of  our  moral 
being,  that  they  seem  to  belong  to  our  personal 
identity. 

Now  dissolve  the  Union,  and  not  only  do  we  cease 
to  be  what  we  have  been,  as  individuals,  but  the 
power  of  the  Union  over  us  is  gone,  and  gone  forever. 
You  annihilate  by  one  stroke,  that  feeling  of  its  sanc- 
tity which  has  done  more  to  preserve  it  than  all  other 
causes  combined.  And  it  matters  not  whether  you 
merely  cleave  it  in  halves  or  divide  it  down  into 
quarters  or  eighths.  One  pebble  will  spoil  a  mirror  as 
well  as  a  handful.  The  people  will  have  learned,  from 
a  single  rupture,  that  the  Union  can.  be  broken:  a 
most  fatal  discovery.  For  when  they  have  broken  it 
once,  they  will  not  scruple,  if  occasion  serves,  to  break 
it,  or  rather  to  break  its  fragments,  again ;  for  it  will 
have  ceased  to  be  the  Union.     We  shall  no  longer 


46  THE    UNION. 

have  a  national  existence.  The  great  events  of  our 
history — the  illustrious  names  whicli  adorn  our  annals 
— the  heritage  of  renown  committed  to  us — can  no 
longer  be  appealed  to  as  incentives  to  virtuous  con- 
duct, or  as  rallying-cries  in  seasons  of  peril.  AVhat 
orator  will  dare  allude  to  Bunker  Hill  or  York- 
town,  to  Champlain  or  Erie  1  "What  Senator  will  dare 
invoke  the  name  of  Washington — or  to  speak  of 
Henry  and  Marshall,  of  Greene  and  Morgan,  of  Jack- 
son and  Harrison,  of  Hull  and  Bainbridge"?  These 
illustrious  men  toiled  and  bled  for  the  UNION ;  and 
when  we  shall  have  destroyed  the  work  of  their 
hands,  and  resolved  the  almost  perfect  government 
they  established  and  defended  at  so  great  a  cost,  into  a 
group  of  petty  jarring  confederacies,  shame  will  con- 
spire with  ingratitude  in  consigning  their  names,  their 
honors,  and  their  sufferings,  to  a  speedy  and  an  eter- 
nal oblivion.  Nothing — if  this  calamity  awaits  us — 
nothing  presents  itself  to  our  expectations,  but  a 
future  as  humiliating  and  disastrous,  as  our  past  has 
been  bright  and  ennobling.  Instead  of  that  benefi- 
cent mission  which  we  have  been  wont  to  suppose 
had  been  confided  to  us,  of  leading  the  nations  on  to 
freedom  and  happiness,  we  may  look  forward  to  pro- 
tracted scenes  of  anarchy  and  bloodshed,  which  will 
sicken  and  discourage  the  patriots  of  other  lands,  and 
supply  the  partisans  of  arbitrary  power  with  a  tri- 
umphant proof  that  nations  require  a  master. 

We  arc  not  at  liberty  to  disregard  this  consideration. 
Even  if  we  were  so  lost  to  virtue  and  patriotism  as  to 


THE    UNION.  47 

be  reckless  of  the  fate  of  our  own  countrymen,  we 
could  not  elude  the  responsibilities  which  rest  upon  us 
in  reference  to  the  world  at  large.  This  Union  cannot 
expire  as  the  snow  melts  from  a  rock,  or  a  star  dis- 
appears from  the  firmament.  When  it  falls,  the  crash 
will  be  heard  in  all  lands.  Wherever  the  winds  of 
Heaven  go,  tiad  will  go,  bearing  sorrow  and  dismay 
to  millions  of  stricken  hearts.  Not  the  dismay  and 
sorrow  incident  to  the  blighting  of  their  own  pros- 
pects, and  the  breaking  up  of  their  household  plans ; 
but  the  deep  and  inconsolable  grief  occasioned  by  a 
calamity  so  startling  and  so  disastrous  in  its  bearings 
upon  the  happiness  of  mankind,  as  to  leave  the  mind 
no  opportunity  for  expatiating  on  its  own  private  mis- 
fortunes. For  the  subversion  of  this  Government  will 
render  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  hopeless 
throughout  the  world.  What  nation  can  govern  itself, 
if  this  nation  cannot  ]  What  encouragement  will  any 
people  have  to  establish  liberal  institutions  for  them- 
selves, if  ours  fail  %  Providence  has  laid  upon  us  the 
responsibility  and  the  honor  of  solving  that  problem  in 
which  all  coming  generations  of  men  have  a  profound 
interest,  whether  the  true  ends  of  government  can  be 
secured  by  a  popular  representative  system.  In  the 
munificence  of  his  goodness,  he  put  us  in  possession 
of  our  heritage,  by  a  series  of  interpositions  scarcely 
less  signal  than  those  which  conducted  the  Hebrews 
to  Canaan ;  and  He  has,  up  to  this  period,  withheld 
from  us  no  immunities  or  resources  which  might 
facilitate  an  auspicious  result.     Never  before  was  a 


48  THE    UNION. 

people  so  advantageously  situated  for  working  out  this 
great  problem  in  favor  of  human  liberty.  And  it  is 
important  for  us  to  understand  that  the  Avorld  so 
regards  it.  The  argument  with  which  Napoleon  in- 
flamed the  ardor  of  his  troops  on  the  eve  of  his  great 
battle  near  Cairo,  was  in  these  pregnant  words :  "  Sol- 
diers, consider  that  from  the  summits  of  yonder  Pyra- 
mids, forty  centuries  look  down  upon  you."  What- 
ever the  rhetoricians  may  say  of  this  speech,  they  must 
at  least  admit  that  the  principle  to  which  it  appeals, 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  powerful  springs  of  human 
action,  and  that  no  man  is  at  liberty  to  disregard  its 
promptings.  We,  certainly,  are  bound  to  remember 
that  the  nations  are  looking  to  us,  not  for  themselves 
only,  but  for  the  "  centuries"  which  are  to  follow,  to 
learn  whether  "  order  and  law,  religion  and  morality, 
the  rights  of  conscience,  the  rights  of  person,  and  the 
rights  of  property,  may  all  be  preserved  and  secured 
in  the  most  perfect  manner  by  a  government  entirely 
and  purely  elective."  If,  in  the  frenzy  of  our  base 
sectional  jealousies,  we  dig  the  grave  of  the  Union, 
and  thus  decide  this  question  in  the  negative,  no 
tongue  may  attempt  to  depict  the  disappointment  and 
despair  which  will  go  along  with  the  announcement 
as  it  spreads  through  distant  lands.  It  will  be  at  once 
the  most  unlooked-for  and  the  most  irrefragable  testi- 
mony ever  given  to  the  idea,  that  nations  are  made 
only  to  obey.  It  will  be  America,  after  fifty  years' 
experience,  in  the  course  of  which  period  she  had 
done  more  to  inspire  the  nations  with  a  desire  for 


THE  rxiox.  49 

liberal  institutions,  than  all  other  popular  govenmients 
combined  could  eiFect  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  recording 
her  adhesion  to  the  doctrine,  that  man  was  not  made 
for  self-government.  It  will  be  Freedom  herself  pro- 
claiming that  Freedom  is  a  chimera ;  Liberty  ringing 
her  own  knell  all  over  the  globe.  And  when  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  the  governments  which  are  to 
succeed  this  Union  shall  visit  Europe,  and  see  in  some 
land,  now  struggling  to  cast  off  its  fetters,  the  lacerated 
and  lifeless  form  of  Liberty  laid  prostrate  under  the 
iron  heel  of  despotism,  it  will  not  much  relieve  the 
horror  of  the  spectacle,  to  reflect  that  the  blow  which 
destroyed  her  was  inflicted  by  their  own  countr}-. 

"  So  the  struck  Eagle,  stretched  upon  the  plain, 
No  more  through  rolling  clouds  to  soar  again, 
Viewed  his  own  feather  on  the  fatal  dart. 
And  winged  the  shaft  that  quivered  in  his  heart : 
Keen  were  his  pangs,  but  keener  far  to  feel, 
He  nursed  the  pinion  which  Impelled  the  steel; 
While  the  same  plumage  that  had  warmed  his  nest, 
Drank  the  last  life-drop  of  his  bleeding  breast," 

Nor  is  this  the  only  aspect  in  which  the  issues  of 
Disunion  present  themselves  to  our  contemplation. 
We  are  forced  to  consider  them  as  well  in  respect  to 
our  spiritual,  as  our  civil  and  social  interests.  For 
the  most  remarkable  characteristic  of  this  whole  move- 
ment is,  that  the  sacred  name  of  Religion  should  be 
invoked  to  sanction  measures  adapted  to  destroy  this 
government, — the  Union  is  to  be  broken  up  for  the 
sake  of  religion !     The  lofty  morality  of  the  Scriptures 


50  THE    UNION. 

will  not  permit  us  to  live  together  under  a  constitution 
which  authorizes  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law;  and  w^e 
must  separate. 

"  I  thought  where  all  thy  circling  wiles  would  end  : 
In  feigned  religion,  smooth  liypocrisy !" 

It  needed  but  this  ingredient  to  consummate  the 
superlative  madness  and  impiety  of  this  scheme.  For, 
if  there  is  any  one  great  national  interest  upon  which 
the  disruption  of  these  States  would  fall  with  a  crush- 
ing weight,  it  is  our  Christianity,  —  that  interest 
which  as  much  surpasses  all  others  in  importance  as 
it  will  in  duration. 

There  is  no  land  where  Christianity  has  achieved 
nobler  victories  than  it  has  here.  Enjoying  at  once 
plenary  protection  from  the  State  and  the  utmost  free- 
dom, it  has  developed  itself  with  a  purity  and  an 
energy  rarely  witnessed  in  the  Old  World.  It  was  a 
sublime  undertaking,  that  of  supplying,  without  the 
aid  of  endowments  or  government  patronage,  churches 
and  spiritual  teachers  for  a  youthful  and  growing  nation 
like  this,  diffused  over  so  great  an  expanse  of  territory. 
And  the  predictions  of  failure  were  equally  sanguine 
and  universal  among  the  adherents  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal establishments  of  Europe.  But  these  predictions 
have  not  been  verified.  We  may  venture  to  assert, 
without  violating  the  modesty  proper  to  the  occasion, 
that  Christianity  has  accomplished  far  more  than  its 
friends  could  have  anticipated  ;  that  the  efficiency  of 
the  voluntary  principle,  as  displayed  here,  has  excited 


THE    UNION.  51 

the  astonishment  of  its  bitterest  opponents ;  and  that 
we  have  done  more  by  our  example  to  refute  the 
vicious  theories  of  foreign  statesmen  and  ecclesiastics, 
and  to  promote  the  progress  of  religious  liberty  on 
that  side  of  the  water,  than  could  have  been  done  by 
whole  libraries  of  polemical  divinity.  The  time  for- 
bids me  to  go  into  detail.  But  no  candid  observer 
can  survey  our  country,  in  its  moral  and  religious 
features,  without  being  impressed  with  the  grandeur 
of  the  results  already  achieved  here.  Not  to  speak 
of  the  churches  with  which  the  land  is  dotted 
over ;  the  large  body  of  educated  and  evangelical 
clergymen  who  occupy  our  pidpits  and  conduct  most 
of  the  higher  literary  institutions ;  the  liberal  sums 
spontaneously  contributed  for  the  support  and  propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel ;  and  the  promptitude  with 
which  further  subsidies  and  new  laborers  are  sup- 
plied, as  fresh  fields  demand  cultivation, — look  at 
the  benign  and  powerful  influence  religion  has  ex- 
erted upon  the  population  at  large.  There  was  a 
work  to  be  done  here  so  indispensable  that  the  gov- 
ernment could  not  get  on  tranquilly  without  it,  but 
which  the  government  could  not  do.  Religion  has 
done  it.  It  has  been  the  chief  agent  in  establishing 
our  systems  of  education.  It  has  been  the  main- 
spring of  most  of  the  humane  institutions  designed  to 
alLe\'iate  the  wants  and  improve  the  condition  of  the 
people.  It  has  gone  down  among  the  masses,  and  not 
only  fed  them  and  clothed  them,  but  renovated  their 
principles,  restrained  their  passions,  taught  them  their 


52  THE    UNION. 

duties,  and  made  them  value  their  privileges.  It  has 
received  in  the  arms  of  its  comprehensive  charity,  the 
myriads  who  land  upon  our  wharves ;  and  done  more 
by  its  wondrous  alchemy,  than  all  other  agencies  com- 
bined, to  transmute  them  into  good  citizens,  and  to 
homologate  all  creeds  and  parties  and  tongues  in  a 
harmonious  brotherhood.  It  has  redoubled  its  exer- 
tions to  keep  pace  with  the  tide  of  emigration  as  it 
has  rolled  over  the  prairies,  pierced  the  primeval 
forests  of  the  West,  and  poured  itself  down  the  slopes 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  upon  the  fertile  plains  of 
Oregon  and  into  the  auriferous  valleys  of  California. 
And,  not  satisfied  with  domestic  conquests,  though 
stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean,  it  has  sent  forth  its 
peaceful  cohorts  to  distant  shores;  and  from  Asia, 
from  Africa,  from  the  Isles  of  the  Sea,  ten  thousand 
voices  come  back  to  proclaim  their  bloodless  victories, 
and  to  assure  us  that  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary 
place  have  been  made  glad  for  them,  and  the  desert 
rejoices  and  blossoms  as  the  rose. 

Now  let  the  Union  be  dissolved,  and  how  certainly 
will  this  vision  pass  away.  For  it  is  not  possible  that 
this  event  should  occur,  without  involving  religion  in 
the  general  catastrophe.  It  is  a  common  maxim  that, 
in  times  of  public  distress  or  alarm,  credit  is  the  first 
thing  to  suffer.  It  is  no  less  true  that  Religion  sym- 
pathizes at  such  crises,  not  only  with  credit,  but  with 
every  other  element  of  prosperity.  Christianity  is  not 
a  tiling  by  itself — a  mere  matter  of  Bible-reading  and 
church-going,  of  Sundays  and  sacraments.     It  is  in- 


THE    UNION.  53 

terfused,  as  we  have  just  seen,  tlirough  all  our  rela- 
tions, comprehends  all  our  emplo^Tuents,  and  exerts 
its  prerogative  over  the  whole  field  of  himian  duty. 
The  moment  you  touch  the  commerce  or  the  hus- 
bandry of  a  country,  you  touch  its  Christianity.  If 
you  paralyze  any  branch  of  industr}',  weaken  the 
popular  confidence  in  the  government,  excite  an  ex- 
pectation of  war,  or  do  anything  else  to  agitate  the 
pubHc  mind,  religion  feels  the  efi'ect  of  it.  It  requires 
no  prophet,  therefore,  to  foresee  that,  in  the  event  of 
a  disruption,  the  churches  would  share  the  common 
fortunes  of  the  country.  Amidst  despondency  and 
terror,  dissensions  and  war,  their  strength  would 
dvrindle  and  their  zeal  dechne.  With  diminished 
resources,  the  money  now  appropriated  to  the  mainte- 
nance and  difl'usion  of  the  Gospel,  would  be  wanted 
to  pay  troops  and  purchase  munitions  of  war;  or, 
should  an  appeal  to  arms  be  averted,  to  meet  the 
enormous  taxes  for  civil  and  military  purposes  inci- 
dent to  the  new  order  of  things,  and  the  critical  rela- 
tions amonsr  the  several  States  and  Federations.  It 
is  no  extravagant  supposition  that,  if  the  process  of 
dissolution  once  begins,  it  will  not  finally  stop  imtd. 
the  Republic  is  chopped  up  into  six  or  eight  distinct 
Leagues,  each  one  of  which  must  have  its  own  general 
government,  with  the  usual  symbols  and  implements 
of  nationality,  such  as  legislative  and  judicial  tribu- 
nals, ambassadors,  a  na\"V',  and,  what  will  then  be 
unavoidable,  a  cordon  of  camps  and  fortresses  and  a 
considerable  standing  army.     The  very  transit  from 


54  THE    UNION. 

our  present  condition  to  a  state  like  this,  would  be 
like  the  passage  of  a  fleet  through  the  Norwegian 
Maelstrom.  It  would  extinguish  hundreds  of  feeble 
churches  and  shatter  the  strongest  ones.  Instead  of 
keeping  pace  with  the  spiritual  wants  of  our  nomadic 
population,  which  they  are  barely  able  to  do  when 
blessed  with  a  redundant  prosperity,  the  various  de- 
nominations would  find  it  difficult  to  sustain  them- 
selves at  home.  Foreign  Missionaries  would  be  re- 
called, and  fields  restored  to  paganism  which  have 
been  won  from  it  at  a  great  outlay  of  money  and  life, 
and  which  are  now  "  white  to  the  harvest."  The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  country  would  be  as  unpropitious 
to  the  culture  of  sound  morals  as  they  are  now  favor- 
able. Infidelity  and  atheism  would  run  riot  through 
the  land,  violence  and  crime  would  superabound,  and 
we  should  deteriorate  in  all  those  high  moral  qualities 
which  have  hitherto  attested  the  efficacy  of  our  Chris- 
tianity, and  secured  for  us  the  respect  of  the  civilized 
world. 

And  all  this  avalanche  of  evil  is  to  be  brought  down 
upon  us  for  the  sake  of  Religion  !  We  are  to  ex- 
change our  present  condition  for  alienation,  insecurity, 
commercial  prostration,  the  decay  of  our  churches, 
and  the  bankruptcy  of  our  great  charities — for  the 
sake  of  religion  !  We  are  to  make  the  Bible  a  nullity, 
and  the  Sabbath  a  day  of  amusement,  re-open  all  the 
sluices  of  immorality,  and  deluge  the  land  with  licen- 
tiousness and  profanity — for  the  sake  of  religion !  We 
are  to  disband  our  schools  and  churches  among  the 


^ 


THE    UNION.  56 

heathen,  and  send  back  the  multitudes  now  under 
Christian  instruction,  to  worship  in  idol  temples  and 
sacrifice  their  children  to  devils, — for  the  sake  of  re- 
ligion ! 

We  protest  against  this  huge  impiety.  If  fanatics 
and  demagogues  are  resolved  to  destroy  this  Union, 
let  them  not  seek  to  sanctify  the  parricidal  crime  by 
perpetrating  it  in  the  name  of  religion.  Enough 
that  Buddhism  should  crush  its  besotted  devotees 
under  the  car  of  Juggernaut,  in  the  name  of  religion ; 
that  Mohammed  should  fertilize  kingdoms  with  human 
blood,  in  the  name  of  rehgion ;  that  a  spurious  Chris- 
tianity should  keep  its  arsenals  of  chains  and  fagots, 
and  slaughter  whole  tribes  of  unoffending  peasants, 
in  the  name  of  religion.  Let  not  Satan  come  hither 
also  in  the  robes  of  an  angel  of  light.  Let  not  the 
august  name  of  religion  be  invoked  to  hallow  an 
enormity,  which  would  not  only  shroud  this  land  in 
mourning,  but  inflict  upon  religion  itself  the  most  irre- 
parable injury.  Every  consideration  of  \irtue  not 
only,  but  of  decency,  forbids  that  Christianity  should 
be  called  upon  to  preside  at  an  auto-da-fe  of  which  it 
is  itself  to  be  the  holocaust;  to  consecrate  a  crime 
which  would,  for  the  time,  arrest  its  own  beneficent 
triumphs,  give  new  energy  to  all  the  emissaries  of  evil, 
and  be  hailed  with  transport  by  those,  and  only  those, 
who  exult  in  the  calamities  of  virtue  and  the  victories 
of  sin. 

Not  to  pursue  this  painful  theme,  it  must  be  too 
apparent  to  require  argument,  that   the   dismember- 


56  THE    UNION. 

mcnt  of  this  Union  would  be  one  of  the  most  appal- 
ling calamities  which  could  befall  the  world.  "  Other 
misfortunes  (I  use  the  words  of  the  great  Statesman  of 
Massachusetts)  may  be  borne  or  their  effects  overcome. 
If  disastrous  war  should  sweep  our  commerce  from  the 
ocean,  another  generation  may  renew  it ;  if  it  exhaust 
our  treasury,  future  industry  may  replenish  it ;  if  it 
desolate  and  lay  waste  our  fields,  still  under  a  new 
cultivation  they  will  grow  green  again  and  ripen  to 
future  harvests.  It  were  but  a  trifle  even  if  the 
walls  of  the  Capitol  were  to  crumble,  if  its  lofty 
pillars  should  fall,  and  its  gorgeous  decorations  be  all 
covered  by  the  dust  of  the  valley.  All  these  might 
be  rebuilt.  But  who  shall  reconstruct  the  fabric  of 
demolished  Government '?  Who  shall  rear  again  the 
well-proportioned  columns  of  Constitutional  liberty"? 
AVho  shall  frame  together  the  skilful  architecture 
which  unites  national  sovereignty  with  State  rights, 
individual  security,  and  public  prosperity "?  No,  if  tliese 
columns  fall,  they  will  not  be  raised  again.  Like  the 
Coliseum  and  the  Parthenon,  they  will  be  destined  to 
a  mournful,  a  melancholy  immortality.  Bitterer  tears, 
however,  will  flow  over  them  than  were  ever  shed 
over  the  monuments  of  Roman  or  Grecian  art ;  for 
they  will  be  the  remnants  of  a  more  glorious  edifice 
than  Greece  or  Rome  ever  saw, — the  edifice  of  Con- 
stitutional American  Liberty."*  But  why  should  they 
fain     What  is  it   that  now  threatens  to  overwhelm 

*  Mr.  Webster's  Speech  at  the  celebration  of  Washington's  Birth-dav, 
in  Washington,  1832. 


THE    UNION.  57 

this  Government  in  irretrievable  rnin '?  Has  it  become 
so  enervated  by  luxury  as  to  sink  into  inanition  ]  Arc 
we  falling  to  pieces  through  the  extraordinary  and  in- 
tractable expansion  of  our  territory  ]  Is  there  a  vic- 
torious army  at  our  gates'?  Are  we  ground  down 
with  oppressive  laws  for  which  there  is  no  remedy  but 
in  a  dissolution "?  No :  none  of  these.  But  Congress, 
in  the  exercise  of  a  power  never  before  called  in 
question,  has  admitted  a  State  into  the  Union  Avhich 
refused  to  tolerate  involuntary  servitude ;  and  in  obe- 
dience to  an  imperative  requisition  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, has  passed  a  law  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitive 
slaves !  These  are  the  grounds  on  which  it  is  pro- 
posed to  destroy  this  Government.  For  these  reasons 
we  are  called  upon,  in  the  midst  of  peace,  plenty,  and 
prosperity,  to  exchange  the  best  Government  the 
world  has  ever  seen — the  most  affluent  blessings,  the 
most  glorious  reminiscences,  and  the  most  brilliant 
prospects  a  nation  ever  enjoyed — for  dismemberment, 
anarchy,  and  carnage.  Surely,  if  the  establishment 
of  this  Union  by  the  voluntary  consent  of  the  people 
was,  as  Mr.  Hamilton  declared,  a  "  prodigy,"  its  volun- 
tary destruction  by  that  same  people  or  their  degene- 
rate descendants,  for  causes  like  these  and  after  sixty 
years'  experience  of  its  benefits,  would  be  a  far  greater 
prodigy.  The  turpitude  of  such  a  crime  has  nothing 
in  history  to  illustrate  it.  Language  was  not  made  to 
define  it.  The  generation  which  perpetrates  it,  will 
cover  themselves  with  an  infamy  as  deep  as  the  abyss 
into  which   they  will  have   plunged    their   country. 


58  THE    UNION. 

And  the  patriots  of  all  coming  generations  will  exe- 
crate the  memories  of  the  men,  who  betrayed  the 
priceless  heritage  of  Constitutional  Liberty  which  was 
purchased  with  the  blood  of  their  fathers,  and  placed 
in  their  hands  as  trustees  for  mankind. 

Let  it  be  our  aim  to  do  what  we  can  to  avert  so 
fearful  a  catastrophe.  Let  us  cultivate  a  spirit  of 
conciliation  towards  all  portions  of  the  Confederacy. 
Let  us  sustain  the  majesty  of  the  law.  Let  us  invoke 
the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  our  rulers.  Let  us,  above 
all,  be  instant  and  earnest  in  commending  our  beloved 
country  to  the  care  of  that  benignant  Providence,  who 
has  brought  us  through  so  many  dangers,  and  crowned 
us  with  such  unexampled  prosperity. 


ANNIVERSARY 


Cj}.e  IP^rclants  Jfimir; 


KEPORT  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  MANAGERS, 


THE  ADDRESS 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.D. 


{  PHILADELPHIA: 

I  C.    SHERMAN    &    SON,    PRINTERS. 

1855. 


The  Merchants  Fuxd — the  title  of  the  Association  for  furnishing  relief 
to  indigent  mercJianis  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  especially  such  as  are 
aged  and  infirm — was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania, 
January  28th,  1854. 

Its  affairs  are  under  the  direction  of  a  Board,  consisting  of  a  President, 
two  Vice-Presidents,  Secretary,  Treasurer,  and  fifteen  additional  Managers, 
elected  by  the  members ;  and  it  is  authorized  to  hold  any  real  or  personal 
estate,  provided  the  net  yearly  income  of  the  former  shall  not  exceed  twenty 
thousand  dollars. 

Life  memberships  are  constituted  by  payment  of  fifty  dollars. 

Annual  membership  five  dollars  per  annum.  Subscriptions  and  donations 
received  by  William  C.  Ludwig,  Treasurer,  No.  28  North  Third  Street. 

The  Annivei'sary  of  this  Society  was  celebrated  at  the  Musical  Fund  Hall, 
Feb.  6,  1855  ;  upon  which  occasion  the  Meeting  was  addressed  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Boardmau.  His  Address,  with  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers 
prefixed,  is  now  published,  with  the  hope  of  awakening  a  more  general 
interest  in  the  objects  of  the  Institution. 


[Extract  from  the  By-Laws.] 

Sect.  4th.  Any  member  desirous  of  resigning,  shall  signify  his  wish  in 
writing,  addressed  to  the  Board,  and  pay  all  dues,  those  of  the  current  year 
included. 


REPORT. 


In  presenting  to  the  members  of  the  Merchants  Fund  the  state- 
ment of  the  transactions  of  the  Society  during  the  past  year,  the 
Managers  offer  their  sincere  congratulations  upon  the  happy  working 
of  this  plan  of  beneficence.  Thus  far,  at  least,  it  has  in  no  degree  dis- 
appointed our  hopes,  and  we  see  nothing  in  the  future  to  cloud  the 
prospect  of  increasing  usefulness. 

The  receipts  from  all  sources,  as  shown  by  the  Treasurer's  account, 
herewith  submitted,  have  amounted  to  thirty-five  hundi'ed  dollars,  and 
the  payments  to  twenty-eight  hundred  and  seventy-one  dollars  and 
nineteen  cents  ;  leaving  a  balance  of  cash  on  hand,  of  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  dollars  and  eighty-one  cents.  An  investment  of  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  has  also  been  made  in  our  city  6  per  cent,  bonds, 
making  the  present  available  means  S2228  81. 

The  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  has  been  bequeathed  to  the  Asso- 
ciation by  one  of  the  late  Managers,  Elliott  Cresson,  Esq.,  which  we 
may  expect  to  receive  during  the  current  year. 

Mr.  Cresson  was  one  of  the  earliest  friends  of  our  Society,  and  it  is 
another  proof  of  the  warm-hearted  philanthropy,  for  which  that  gentle- 
man was  so  eminently  distinguished,  that  he  appreciated  so  highly  its 
benevolent  design,  and  so  zealously  aided  in  its  establishment. 

The  appropriations  for  relief  have  been  made  to  seven  individuals. 
Five  of  these  are  under  the  care  of  the  Association.  Two  are  no 
longer  within  reach  of  your  sympathy  and  aid,  but  we  are  charged 


4  REPORT. 

with  the  conveyance  of  their  thanks  to  the  patrons  of  the  Merchants 
Fund  for  the  kindness  which  cheered  their  latest  hours  of  life. 

By  the  wise  and  humane  provisions  of  our  By-Laws,  the  bestowment 
of  pecuniary  relief  is  private  and  confidential ;  but  we  may  state  that 
all  the  beneficiaries  are  aged  men,  none  less  than  seventy  years  old. 
All  wei'e  esteemed  through  their  business  lives  as  men  of  integrity 
and  honor,  and  who,  in  adversity  as  well  as  in  prosperity,  were  without 
reproach.  They  have  also,  in  each  case,  continvied  to  labor  as  they 
could  for  the  support  of  themselves  and  those  dependent  upon  them, 
although  it  is  within  our  knowledge  that,  in  their  patient  struggles  to 
provide  for  the  day  that  was  passing  over  them,  they  were  sometimes, 
and  we  fear  often,  limited  to  a  single  scanty  meal  for  the  twenty-four 
hours.  It  must  be  of  interest  to  add,  that  of  all  the  recipients  of  the 
donations  of  the  Society,  no  one  had  sought  its  help.  The  informa- 
tion of  their  wants  was  obtained  from  other  sources,  and  the  assistance 
rendered  entirely  unlooked  for ;  but  not  on  that  account  less  gratefully 
received  or  less  affectingly  acknowledged,  nor  in  most  cases  without  tears. 

It  is  thus,  as  the  almoners  of  your  bounty,  we  have  endeavored  to 
fulfil  the  trust  committed  to  our  hands ;  and  we  are  not  aware  of  any  fair 
claim  upon  the  Fund,  which  has  not  been  met  with  prompt  and  suffi- 
cient relief  In  view  of  the  necessity,  of  which  none  can  doubt,  of 
some  organized  plan  for  the  solace  of  age,  poverty,  and  sickness,  in 
circumstances  like  these,  and  of  the  adaptation  of  the  agency  of  this 
Society  for  the  accomplishment  of  so  benevolent  a  purpose,  we  bespeak 
for  it  the  thoughtful  attention  of  the  Philadelphia  merchants. 

If  other  professions  need  their  beneficial  associations,  we  more ;  for 
without  vouching  for  the  accuracy  of  some  statistics  on  this  point,  it 
is  admitted  by  common  consent,  that  around  no  other -professions  do 
there  cluster  exposures  to  reverses  of  fortune  so  numerous  or  so  great. 
The  present  is  not  the  proper  occasion  for  expatiating  upon  these 
perils  which  beset  the  merchant's  path,  or  upon  their  too  frequent 
fatal  issues,  but  we  may  be  permitted  to  remark,  that  for  results  so 


REPORT.  5 

lamentably  common,  there  must  be  a  cause  as  general.  What  this  is, 
may  be  readily  perceived. 

Apart  from  the  exposure  to  pecuniary  reverses,  arising  from  inex- 
perience, incompetent  abilities,  sickness,  fraud,  or  any  of  the  calami- 
tous accidents  to  which  the  merchant,  in  common  with  all  others,  is 
liable,  his  peculiarity  is,  that  he  is  the  representative  and  exponent  of 
credit  in  this  and  every  commercial  country.  His  business,  his  for- 
tune, his  capital,  must  suffer,  when  from  any  cause,  or  combination  of 
causes,  the  monetary  condition  of  the  country  is  disturbed.  Whe- 
ther this  occurs  from  ill-adjusted  tariffs,  the  errors  of  banking,  the 
extravagant  undertakings  of  corporations  for  public  improvements, 
wars  in  another  hemisphere,  droughts  on  the  land,  or  tempests  on  the 
ocean,  it  is  the  commercial  profession  which  first  feels,  and  must 
chiefly  bear  the  shock.  Against  this,  as  a  breakwater,  every  wave 
beats  and  expends  its  force  ;  while  behind  this  barrier  many  a  bark, 
which  would  otherwise  be  wrecked,  may  lie  at  safe  and  peaceful 
anchorage. 

To  protect  the  merchant  from  the  disasters  to  which  he  is  thus 
exposed,  or  to  assure  to  him,  in  his  stricken  fortunes,  the  comforts 
and  privileges  of  his  days  of  affluence,  it  would  be  vain  to  expect. 
The  Merchants  Fund  contemplates  no  such  visionary  purpose.  Its 
single  design  is  to  furnish  relief  to  those  of  our  profession  who  are  in 
destitute  circumstances,  and  who,  in  their  sore  calamities,  have  no 
other  earthly  help.  This  object  will  plead  its  own  cause  in  the  hearts 
of  the  liberal-minded  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  who,  while  with 
ready  hand  they  are  distributing  to  other  and  various  charities,  will 
not  forget  the  peculiar  claims  of  those  of  their  own  household.  All 
that  is  necessary,  all  that  can  ever  be  necessary,  to  secure  help  in  such 
a  cause,  in  this  community,  is  to  demonstrate  that  the  attainment  of 
the  object  is,  in  any  good  degree,  within  the  compass  of  private  muni- 
ficence, and  that  the  funds  will  be  faithfully  and  judiciously  bestowed. 

That  the  undertaking  is  one  of  novel  character,  that  nowhere  else 


6  REPORT. 

has  an  attempt  been  made  to  provide,  by  a  systematic  organization, 
for  the  decayed  merchant,  should  militate  neither  against  its  wisdom 
nor  feasibility,  least  of  all  here  ;  as  it  will  but  add  one  more  to  the  list 
of  beneficent  institutions  now  common  with  other  capitals,  of  which 
Philadelphia  furnished  the  first  and  bright  example,  and  which  have 
reflected  more  true  honor  on  her  name,  than  the  most  splendid  works 
of  art.  These  may  exist  and  abound  where  the  wants  or  woes  of 
humanity  find  little  sympathy  or  succor,  and  we  may  better  spare  the 
costliest  monuments  which  wealth  has  ever  reared,  than  the  humblest 
instrumentality  which  alleviates  the  suffering,  and  promotes  the  true 
welfare  of  our  fellow-men. 

John  M.  Atwood, 

President. 


ADDRESS. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,   AND 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  "MERCHANTS  FUND;"— 

I  COULD  have  wished  that  the  advocacy  of  this  cause  had 
fallen  into  other  and  better  hands.  There  are  gentlemen 
among  the  founders  and  managers  of  the  "  jMerchants 
Fund,"  who  are  pre-eminently  entitled  to  be  heard  on  its 
behalf,  and  who  could  do  plenary  justice  to  its  merits.  But 
these  gentlemen  are  doers,  not  talkers.  With  characteristic 
modesty,  they  content  themselves  with  laying  before  you  a 
brief  Report  of  their  transactions,  and  then  fall  back  undis- 
tinguished among  the  mass  of  their  constituency.  In  this 
way  it  has  come  to  pass,  that  the  duty  of  addressing  you  this 
evening  is  devolved  upon  me.  Other  men  have  labored, 
and  I  enter  into  their  labors  ;  a  mission  I  should  certainly 
have  declined,  had  it  not  been  for  an  abiding  conviction, 
that  the  merchants  of  Philadelphia  have  an  equitable  claim 
upon  the  services  of  any  citizen  whom  they  may  see  fit  to 
summon  to  their  aid  in  carrying  forward  their  benevolent 
entei'p  rises. 

The  second  section  of  the  Charter  of  the  "Merchants 


8  ADDRESS. 

Fund,"  is  in  tlie  following  words :  "  The  object  of  this 
Corporation  is  to  furnish  relief  to  indigent  merchants  of 
the  City  of  Philadelphia,  especially  such  as  are  aged  and 
infirm." 

One  of  the  first  reflections  suggested  by  the  reading 
of  this  paragraph,  is,  that  there  is  a  principle  at  work 
here  which  reflects  the  highest  honor  on  human  nature ; 
or  rather,  should  I  not  say,  a  principle  which  seems 
above  nature.  The  universal  brotherhood  of  mankind, 
has  been  a  favorite  topic  with  poets  and  pseudo-reform- 
ers. Every  age  has  heard  it  asserted,  and  every  coun- 
try has  had  at  least  its  nascent  "New-Harmonies." 
"Liberty — Equality — Fraternity:"  these  are  the  catch- 
words with  which  demagogues  beguile  the  populace. 
And  the  practical  exposition  they  receive,  is  but  too  com- 
monly like  that  presented  in  the  French  Revolution  of  '48, 
when  bands  of  armed  men,  with  these  magic  words  inscribed 
upon  their  banners,  marched  through  the  streets  of  Paris, 
and,  calling  at  the  hotels  and  manufactories,  demanded 
that  all  foreign  artisans  and  servants  should  be  peremp- 
torily dismissed  and  banished  from  the  country* — a  demon- 
stration sufiiciently  expressive,  but  forgotten  in  the  hideous 
spectacle  which  followed,  when  these  same  lying  banners 
flaunted  over  a  French  army  which  was  sent  to  slaughter 

*  This  occurred  under   the  speaker's  eyes,  and   at    the  very  hotel  where  he 
was  staying. 


ADDRESS.  9 

the  republicans  of  Italy,  and  replace  the  yoke  of  bondage 
upon  that  reclaiming  but  helpless  nation.  N^ot  such  is  the 
brotherhood  you  recognize.  Taught  by  a  different  Master, 
and  imbued  with  a  loftier  sentiment,  you  have  learned 
those  lessons  which  all  the  arts  of  the  schools  could  not 
discover,  much  less  infuse  into  the  heart,  that  misfortune  is 
a  sacred  thing,  and  that  "it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive." 

"I  remember,"  says  the  greatest  of  English  statesmen,* 
"an  old  scholastic  aphorism,  that  'the  man  Avho  lives 
wholly  detached  from  others,  must  be  either  an  angel  or  a 
devil.'  When  I  see  in  any  of  these  detached  gentlemen  of 
our  times  the  angelic  purity,  power,  and  beneficence,  I  shall 
admit  them  to  be  angels.  In  the  mean  time  we  are  born 
only  to  be  men.  We  shall  do  enough  if  we  form  ourselves 
to  be  good  ones.  It  is  therefore  our  business  carefully  to 
cultivate  in  our  minds,  to  rear  to  the  most  perfect  vigor 
and  maturity,  every  sort  of  generous  and  honest  feeling 
that  belongs  to  our  nature."  Your  Institution,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, supplies  a  happy  exemplification  of  these  remarks. 
Justly  repudiating  that  selfish  principle,  "  Am  I  my  bro- 
ther's keeper  ?"  you  see  a  brother  in  every  fellow-merchant ; 
and  he  who  is  smitten  by  adversity,  becomes  twice  a 
brother.  So  long  as  they  arc  gathering  the  returns  of  a 
thrifty  and  successful  business,  there  may  be  no  out-going 

*  Mu.  Burke;  "  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents."' 


10  ADDRESS. 

towards  them  of  any  special  consideration ;  but  when  you 
hear  that  one  of  them  is  lying  by  the  roadside  wounded 
and  forsaken,  then  you  hasten  to  him,  and  bind  up  his 
wounds,  and  pour  into  them  oil  and  wine,  and  carry  him 
to  some  comfortable  home,  and  say  to  the  inmates,  "Take 
care  of  him  ;  and  when  we  come  again,  we  will  repay 
you."  Let  Him  who  first  inculcated  this  sublime  benevo- 
lence, and  by  whom  alone  it  can  be  efiectually  taught,  have 
the  glory  of  it.  What  Christianity  is  doing  here  on  this 
humble  scale,  it  will  one  day  do  among  all  the  tribes  of  men. 
I  have  quoted  a  familiar  maxim :  "  It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive:" — or,  if  you  prefer  the  uninspired 
utterance,  mercy 

"  is  twice  blessed  ; 

It  blessetli  liim  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes."' 

Your  own  experience  will  form  no  exception  to  this  rule. 
Every  institution  like  this,  is  fraught  with  good,  no  less 
to  its  supporters  than  to  its  beneficiaries.  Modern  com- 
merce could  scarcely  dispense  with  them  (I  speak  now 
in  general  terms  of  the  benevolent  societies  existing 
among  merchants),  even  if  there  were  less  suffering  to  be 
relieved,  or  if  it  could  be  relieved  in  some  other  way.  No 
intelligent  and  candid  merchant  needs  to  be  informed, 
that  the  paths  of  trade  fairly  bristle  with  temptations. 
Even  to  enumerate  the  chief  of  these  would  be  foreign  to 
my  purpose  ;  but  it  may  be  said  without  offence,  that  it  is 


ADDRESS.  11 

a  delicate  and  perilous  thing  for  a  man  to  be  all  the  while 
dealing  with  money;  to  have  the  acquisition  of  money,  for 
the  staple  occupation  of  his  life ;  to  have  every  day's  trans- 
actions gauged  by  dollars  and  cents;  to  have  his  hopes 
and  his  fears,  his  anxieties  and  his  regrets,  all  concentrated 
around  his  ledger ;  to  feel  that  his  social  position  and  that 
of  his  family,  is  likely  to  rise  and  fall  with  his  profits ;  and 
to  look  forward  to  retiring  from  business  on  a  fortune,  as 
the  grand  consummation  of  life.  This  is  not  said  in  the 
way  of  censure,  but  merely  as  indicating  a  danger.  It 
were  a  marvel  if  men  situated  in  this  way,  should  escape 
the  inordinate  love  of  money:  if  they  should  not  come 
imperceptibly  to  estimate  values  of  all  sorts,  not  excepting 
intellectual  pursuits  and  moral  duties,  by  a  pecuniary 
standard  ;  if  they  should  not  even  become  selfish  and  hard- 
hearted. That  the  current  sets  in  this  direction,  is  beyond 
a  question ;  and  every  merchant  must  make  up  his  mind 
to  encounter  it.  That  so  many  encounter  it  with  success, 
is  a  fact  which  redounds  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  com- 
mercial body.  But  the  most  distinguished  examples  of 
this  sort,  are  the  very  men  who  will  thankfully  avail  them- 
selves of  the  reflex  help  to  be  derived  fi-om  these  schemes 
of  philanthropy.  The  advantages  they  confer  are  too 
obvious  not  to  be  seen.  They  take  the  mind  out  of  its 
stereotype  routine,  into  quite  another  sphere.  They  pre- 
sent to  it  new  and  elevated  objects.  They  appeal  to  its 
best  susceptibilities,  and  call  into  play  its  purest  emotions. 


12  ADDRESS. 

They  create  fresh  trains  of  thought,  and  wake  up  generous 
feelings,  and  infuse  vigor  and  genial  warmth  into  the 
whole  mechanism  of  the  inner  man,  and  make  him  realize 
that  while  money  is  a  good  thing,  it  is  not  the  best  thing, 
and  that  life  has  higher  ends  than  to  buy  and  sell  and  get 
gain. 

Supposing,  then,  that  legal  provision  might  be  made  for 
extending  relief  to  the  classes  of  persons  contemplated  by 
this  and  similar  organizations ;  it  would  be  a  positive  and 
serious  injury  to  the  mercantile  character  of  our  city,  to 
delegate  these  functions  to  the  ministers  of  the  law.  The 
compulsory  charity  which  flows  from  the  public  treasury, 
would  be  shorn  altogether  of  those  wholesome  influences 
which  invigorate  and  embellish  the  principle  of  sponta- 
neous benevolence.  I  do  not  argue  now  from  the  admitted 
insufiiciency  of  legislation  to  provide  for  very  many  of  these 
contingencies.  But  conceding  that  this  were  practicable, 
and  that  every  infirm  or  unfortunate  merchant  might  be 
sure  of  receiving  his  quarterly  stipend,  through  the  hands 
of  some  municipal  functionary,  the  arj-angement,  as  I  con- 
tend, would  be  greatly  to  the  detriment  of  our  commercial 
reputation.  What  room  were  there,  under  such  a  system, 
for  the  exercise  of  those  kindly  sympathies  which  find 
nourishment  and  shelter  in  the  bosom  of  this  "  Merchants 
Fund  ?"  What  scope  would  there  be  for  piety  and  hu- 
manity and  tenderness  on  the  one  hand,  or  for  gratitude  on 
the  other  ?  WTio  does  not  see  that  the  paying  of  an  annual 


ADDRESS.  13 

tax  for  the  support  of  the  poor,  has  as  little  to  do  with  the 
finer  sensibilities  of  the  heart,  as  the  paying  of  a  tax  for 
the  opening  of  a  street,  or  the  building  of  a  prison  ?  In 
either  case,  it  is  a  simple  affair  of  the  statute-book,  %vith 
which  the  affections  have  no  appreciable  concern  whatever, 
save,  indeed,  as  they  are  wont  to  excite  an  unamiable  sort 
of  repugnance  to  the  performance  of  the  duty.  But  take 
away  this  whole  apparatus  of  jurisprudence ;  annul  the 
enactment,  and  withdraw  the  tax-gatherer,  and  arrest  these 
rills  from  the  city  treasury,  and  bring  the  merchants  of  our 
metropolis,  if  not  into  immediate  and  palpable  contact 
mth  their  smitten  fellows,  at  least  into  communion  with 
their  misfortunes, — and  how  different  an  atmosphere  have 
you  thrown  around  them  !  Now  their  stifled  sensibilities 
begin  to  play..  Instead  of  coercion,  there  is  freedom. 
Instead  of  justice,  there  is  humanity.  For  the  "charity  ot 
law,"  there  is  the  "charity  of  love."  For  indifference, 
there  is  sympathy.  For  callousness,  there  is  commisera- 
tion. For  the  stinted  exactions  accorded  to  the  tax-col- 
lector, there  are  generous  contributions  offered  with  a 
willing  hand.*  And  is  it  fanciful  to  say,  that  in  all  this 
there  is  a  double  blessing  ?  that  the  grateful,  though  possi- 
bly unknown,  recipients  of  this  bounty,  are  the  passive 
benefactors  of  their  benefactors  ?  that  to  the  full  extent  in 
which  this  process  is  going  forward  among  your  ranks, 

•  Dr.  Chalmers   has  discussed  this   topic  with    characteristic  ability,  in    his 
"  Political  Economy." 


14  ADDRESS. 

there  is  a  corresponding  amelioration  of  the  mercantile 
character,  and  that  the  moral  henefit  which  returns  into 
your  own  bosoms,  amounts  (in  your  professional  dialect) 
to  a  thousand  per  cent,  on  your  pecuniary  investment  ? 
You  could  not,  then,  dispense  with  societies  like  this,  even 
if  there  were  other  modes  of  accomplishing  the  benevolent 
objects  they  have  in  view.  N^ext  to  a  genuine  and  earnest 
faith^  they  are  the  best  antidote  to  the  mercenary  spirit 
which  has  its  embryo  in  every  human  heart,  the  most 
wholesome  corrective  for  the  horde  of  vicious  impulses  and 
unworthy  artifices  which  the  competition  of  trade  is  so  apt 
to  generate. 

The  "Merchants  Fund,"  however,  may  claim  your  co- 
operation on  grounds  still  more  personal  than  this  with 
which  we  have  been  dealing.  No  merch^yit  in  our  city 
can  have  an  absolute  assurance  that  he  may  not,  one  day, 
need  the  help  of  this  Institution.  If  there  be  a  certainty 
that  very  many  will  escape  serious  disasters  and  end  their 
days  in  afiluence,  there  is  an  equal  certainty  that 
many  others  will  be  overwhelmed  by  painful  reverses. 
Who  are  to  be  the  favored,  and  who  the  unfortunate  ones, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  determine.  Enough,  that  disaster  is 
as  much  an  incident  of  trafiic,  as  it  is  of  navigation  :  so 
long  as  ships  traverse  the  sea,  there  will  be  occasional 
wrecks ;  and  wherever  there  is  a  great  trading  community, 
there  must  be  bankruptcies.  That  there  is  a  peculiar  lia- 
bility to  these  calamities  in  our  countiy,  is  a  humiliating 


ADDRESS.  16 

fact  wliich  no  one  will  call  in  question.  I  say  a  "  humi- 
liating fact,"  for  when  we  trace  it  to  its  principal  causes,  we 
must  so  regard  it.  This  is  not  saying  that  every  case  of 
failure  wears  a  disreputable  brand,  or  has  been  brought 
about  by  reprehensible  means.  Far  from  it.  The  annals 
of  mercantile  disaster  in  the  United  States,  exhibit  names 
as  pure  as  the  judicial  ermine,  and  which  owe  their  enrol- 
ment on  that  long  and  cheerless  catalogue,  to  agencies 
which  no  human  skill  or  foresight  could  have  averted.  But 
no  casuist  can  extenuate  the  criminality  of  that  lust  of  accu- 
mulation, which  has  long  ago  established  itself  as  our 
master-passion.  Its  ubiquity  and  its  power  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  every  intelligent  foreigner  who  visits  our  shores,  l^o 
man  can  look  around  him  without  meeting  it.  It  is  the 
grand  motor  which  propels  the  colossal  enginery  of  the 
country,  which  drives  the  thousand  wheels  of  commerce, 
and  shapes  our  legislation,  and  founds  new  empires  in  our 
western  forests,  and  subjugates  foreign  states,  and  looks 
abroad  continually  with  a  falcon-eye,  landward  and  sea- 
tvard,  to  discover  what  provinces  remain  to  be  "annexed." 
Diflused  as  an  impalpable  and  intoxicating  ether  through 
the  whole  realm  of  trade,  it  inflames  the  passions  of  its 
crowded  tenantry,  captivates  them  with  visionary  schemes, 
enervates  their  moral  sense,  makes  them  call  evil,  good, 
and  good,  evil,  and  beguiles  them  into  paths  which  lead  to 
certain  ruin.  If  it  were  required  to  name  some  one  of 
these  paths  more  seductive  and  fatal  than  the  rest,  it  would 


16  ADDRESS. 

be  tliat  of  licentious  speculation — speculation,  especially, 
alien  from  the  current  of  one's  regular  business.  It  has 
been  charged,  that  the  increased  frequency  of  shipwrecks 
within  the  last  few  years,  is  to  be  attributed  in  no  inconsi- 
derable degree,  to  our  vessels  deviating  from  the  esta- 
blished track  across  the  Atlantic,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
shorter  passages.  It  is  a  kindred  ambition  which  seduces 
merchants  from  the  well-tried  paths  of  legitimate  traffic, 
into  schemes  which  promise  larger  and  quicker  returns. 
The  same  result  follows  in  both  cases.  ^N'or  does  the  paral- 
lel end  here.  Nearly  all  our  marine  disasters  occur  at  one 
of  two  or  three  well-known  points  on  the  American  and 
the  Irish  coasts.  The  locality  of  the  reef  on  which  so  many 
of  our  merchants  are  stranded,  is  ascertained  with  equal  ac- 
curacy. And  as  I  mean  no  offence,  I  trust  none  will  be 
taken,  when  I  indicate  this  place  of  danger  as  being  hard 

by  the  Stock  Exchange.     This  is  no  impeachment  either 

» 

of  the  Institution  here  named,  or  of  the  integrity  of  its 
current  transactions.  But  the  merest  neophyte  in  finance 
knows,  that  this  is  the  centre  which  attracts  to  itself  the 
speculating  propensities  of  a  community,  the  neighborhood 
which,  of  all  others,  is  spread  with  gins  and  pitfalls  for  the 
unwary.  Here,  among  many  pure-minded  and  upright 
men,  you  are  certain  to  find  the  original  of  a  very  striking 
portrait  drawn  by  an  unerring  limner  three  thousand  years 
ago  :  "  He  lieth  in  wait  secretly  as  a  lion  in  his  den  ;  he 
lieth  in  wait  to  catch  the  poor ;  he  doth  catch  the  poor. 


ADDRESS.  17 

when  he  draweth  him  into  his  net.  He  croucheth  and 
humbleth  himself  that  the  poor  may  fall  by  his  strong 
ones."  Wliatever  character  this  may  have  siisrsrested  to 
the  men  of  former  generations,  to  us  it  is  the  very  daguer- 
reotype of  a  reckless  and  unprincipled  operator  in  stocks. 
Xo  eifort  of  the  imagination  is  needed  to  picture  one  of 
these  marauders  pursuing  his  vocation  among  the  commer- 
cial classes — crouching  around  merchants  and  merchants' 
clerks,  meeting  them  at  places  of  secret  rendezvous,  put- 
ting on  the  guise  of  candor  and  fair  dealing;  while  he  baits 
his  victims  with  gorgeous  promises,  and,  when  the  occa- 
sion demands  it,  cautiously  inciting  them  to  borrow  "  for 
temporary  use"  funds  which  belong  to  their  employers, 
or  which,  if  employers  themselves,  they  have  no  equitable 
right  to  vdthdraw  from  their  proper  business.  Thus  are 
they  "  drawn  into  his  net"  and  ruined  both  in  fortune  and 
reputation. 

This  is  not  given  as  the  only  form  which  a  passion  for 
sudden  wealth  assumes  in  the  mercantile  world,  but  simply 
as  one  of  the  most  prolific  sources  of  disaster.  It  is  no  less 
worthy  of  note,  that  the  commercial  classes  frequently  suf- 
fer from  the  efiects  of  this  passion  even  where  they  have 
had  no  special  agency  in  fostering  it.  If  sound  expositors 
are  to  be  believed,  we  have  an  apt  illustration  of  this  at 
hand.  You  have  just  passed  through  one  of  those  great 
crises,  which,  occurring  at  irregular  intervals,  paralyze  the 
energies  of  trade  and  spread  a  dismal  aspect  over  all  its 


18  ADDRESS. 

thoroughfares.  This  visitation,  like  most  which  i:»receded 
it,  had  its  origin  mainly  in  that  remorseless  craving  for 
sudden  wealth,  of  which  we  have  been  speaking.  But  it 
was  on  another  theatre  that  the  passion  had  developed 
itself.  The  demon  of  speculation  seized  in  this  instance 
not  upon  the  mercantile,  but  the  Railroad  interest  of  the 
country;  and  found  or  made  willing  instruments  for  the 
achievement  of  his  purposes.  Wlien  the  probe  came  to  be 
applied,  one  corporation  after  another  was  discovered  to  be 
a  stupendous  engine  of  fraud.     Moving 

"  In  perfect  phalanx,  to  the  Dorian  mood 
Of  Iliites  and  soft  recorders,"' 

they  had  carried  on  a  scheme  of  swindling  which  aston- 
ished by  its  vastness,  as  much  as  it  shocked  by  its  atrocity. 
Individuals  were  swindled.  Banks  were  swindled.  Muni- 
cipal corporations  were  swindled.  Lies  were  sj^oken  with 
the  same  complacency  as  though  they  had  been  truth. 
Spurious  certificates  of  stock  ;  fictitious  vouchers ;  made-up 
schedules  of  liabilities  and  assets  ;  statements  which  how- 
ever true  in  one  sense,  were  false  in  the  sense  in  which  it 
was  known  they  would  be  understood  ;  oaths  emasculated 
by  mental  reservations ;  the  whole  machinery  of  which 
these  things  form  a  part,  was  put  in  requisition,  and  plied 
with  consummate  tact  and  vigor.  And  when  at  length  the 
bubbles  burst,  and  the  gulfs  were  laid  open  into  which  de- 
luded capitalists  and  helpless  widows  had  been  casting  their 


ADDRESS.  19 

money,  all  confidence  was  at  end.  Credit,  the  most  sensi- 
tive of  all  creations  in  the  realm  of  commerce,  locked  up 
its  coft'ers  and  double-bolted  them.  The  funds  which 
you.  Gentlemen,  should  have  had  for  your  legitimate  traffic, 
had  been  usurped  by  others  for  reckless  speculation  or 
were  now  placed  beyond  your  reach  for  safe-keeping.  And 
the  whole  force  of  this  Titanic  villainy  came  down  with  a 
terrific  crash  upon  your  ranks  who  had  had  so  little  agency 
in  nurturing  it.  What  wonder  if  some  should  have  been 
swept  away  by  the  avalanche  !  The  only  marvel  is,  that 
its  ravages  have  been  so  restricted.  Why  this  is  the  case, 
might  supply  a  subject  of  curious  and  rational  inquiry, 
but  I  can  notice  it  here  oply  in  a  cursory  way. 

That  the  late  extraordinary  and  protracted  stringency  in 
the  financial  world  should  have  made  so  little  impression 
upon  the  commercial  interest  of  this  city,  can  be  explained 
only  by  a  reference  to  the  proverbial  integrity  of  the  Phila- 
delphia merchants.  This  is  no  empty  compliment,  got  up 
for  the  occasion.  The  high  mercantile  reputation  of  this 
city  has  long  been  established  on  an  impregnable  basis.  If 
there  be  a  witness  among  ourselves,  who  is  competent  to 
speak  on  this  subject,  it  is  that  great  Lawyer  whose  forensic 
abilities  and  private  virtues  have  for  half  a  century  shed  so 
much  lustre  on  the  Philadelphia  Bar,  and  whose  fame  be- 
longs, not  to  our  city  or  commonwealth,  but  to  the  Union. 
This  is  his  testimony :  "  In  the  course  of  an  active  pro- 
fessional life,  I  had  constant  opportunities  to  observe  how 


20  ADDRESS. 

vastly  the  cases  of  good  faith  among  merchants  and  men 
of  business  in  this  city,  outnumbered  the  cases  of  an  oppo- 
site description,  where  at  the  same  time  there  Avas  neither 
formal  security,  nor  competent  proof  to  insure  fidelity.  I 
should  say,  the  proportion  was  greater  than  a  thousand  to 
one."*  If  it  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  body  of  merchants, 
in  any  age  or  country,  to  have  a  loftier  eulogy  than  this 
pronounced  upon  them,  the  case  has  escaped  my  obsei-va- 
tion.  Nor  is  it  by  any  means  a  mere  local  and  unsupported 
opinion.  The  sentiment  here  expressed,  finds  a  cordial  re- 
sponse among  foreign  manufacturers,  and  throughout  those 
portions  of  our  own  country  which  have  their  trading  rela- 
tions with  this  city.  The  feeling  all  over  the  South  and  the 
"West,  is,  that  the  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  as  a  body,  are 
upright  and  straightforward  men — men  who  use  words  in 
their  common  signification,  and  whose  goods  answer  to  the 
labels.  And  this  conviction  it  is,  even  more  than  your 
costly  canals  and  railroads,  which  brings  them  here  to  make 
their  purchases,  and  which  secures  your  acknowledged 
control  of  the  South- Western  business.  Let  Philadelphia 
lose  her  hereditary  character  for  old-fashioned  honesty,  and 
the  bales  and  boxes  which  every  spring  and  autumn 
make  it  so  difiScult  for  a  pedestrian  to  thread  his  way  along 
Market  Street,  will  gradually  dwindle  into  very  trivial 
obstructions.  Your  real  strength  lies  in  your  integrity; 
and  of  that,  no  rivalry  can  dejjrive  you. 

*  The  Hon.  Horace  Binney. 


ADDKESS.  21 

There  is,  I  am  aware,  one  passage  in  our  history,  which 
is  often  cited  by  unfriendly  writers,  in  derogation  of  these 
views:  I  refer  to  the  failure  of  the  "United  States  Bank." 
It  may  be  presumptuous  to  venture  a  passing  remark  upon 
a  subject  which  it  would  require  volumes  to  discuss.  But 
there  is  one  aspect  of  this  question,  which,  though  sug- 
gested, has  perhaps  never  been  distinctly  brought  out,  and 
which  is  too  vital  to  the  topic  now  under  consideration,  to 
be  omitted.  Disastrous  as  was  the  failure  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  it  differed  in  one  most  important  particular 
from  the  greater  part  of  these  catastrophes  of  a  more  recent 
date.  The  mismanagement  which  destroyed  this  institu- 
tion, originated  in  errors  of  judgment,  not  in  motives  of 
private  cupidity.  That  its  officers  and  directors  committed 
fatal  and  censurable  mistakes,  is  admitted  on  all  hands  ; 
but  that  they  did  what  they  honestly  believed  would  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  stockholders  and  the  public  con- 
venience, has  never  been  disproved,  if,  indeed,  it  has  ever 
been  called  in  question.  Had  they  been  swayed  by  merce- 
nary motives,  they  had  the  amplest  opportunity  for  enrich- 
ing themselves.  That  they  did  not  do  this,  affi)rds  the 
strongest  possible  presumption  that  they  did  not  mean  to 
do  it.  The  calm  judgment  of  posterity  may  discredit  their 
wisdom  :  is  it  unreasonable  to  presume  that  it  will  exone- 
rate their  intentions  ?  This  is  thrown  out,  with  a  view  of 
repelling  the  imputations  cast  upon  our  city,  in  conse- 
quence of  that  failure.     "Whatever  validity  the  plea  may 


22  ADDRESS. 

have,  the  injustice  of  holding  the  mercantile  interest  of  this 
city  responsible  for  the  evils  which  grew  out  of  this  event, 
is  palpable  and  flagrant.  The  commercial  reputation  of 
Philadelphia  was  neither  made  by  the  United  States  Bank, 
nor  marred  by  its  overthrow.  It  had  grown  to  a  vigorous 
maturity  before  that  Institution  was  chartered,  and  the 
convulsions  in  which  the  Bank  expired,  did  far  more  to 
illustrate  its  stability  than  to  sully  its  purity. 

The  commercial  integrity  of  our  metropolis,  I  have  said, 
is  not  a  thing  of  yesterday.  A  philosophic  annalist  will 
seek  its  origin  in  the  character  of  the  men  who  established 
this  commonwealth.  And  he  must  be  wilfully  blind,  who 
does  not  detect  the  germ  of  it,  in  that  immortal  transaction 
which  took  place  under  the  great  Elm  Tree  in  Kensington. 
"  We  meet,"  said  William  Penn  to  the  Indian  sachems, 
"  on  the  broad  pathway  of  good  faith  and  good  will ;  no 
advantage  shall  be  taken  on  either  side,  but  all  shall  be 
openness  and  love.  I  will  not  call  you  children,  for 
parents  sometimes  chide  their  children  too  severely ;  nor 
brothers  only,  for  brothers  differ.  The  friendship  between 
me  and  you  I  will  not  compare  to  a  chain,  for  that  the 
rains  might  rust,  or  a  falling  tree  might  break.  We  are 
the  same  as  if  one  man's  body  were  to  be  divided  into  two 
parts;  we  are  all  one  flesh  and  blood."  Thus  was  that 
famous  Treaty  made,  of  which  Voltaire  justly  said,  "  It 
was  never  sworn  to,  and  never  broken."  In  his  intercourse 
both  with  the  natives  and  the  colonists,  Penn  adhered  to 


ADDRESS.  23 

the  apothegm  he  uttered,  when  tliat  iniquitous  trial  was  in 
progress,  which  ended  in  his  being  sent  to  ITewgate :  "  I 
prefer  the  honestly  simple,  to  the  ingeniously  wicked." 
And  well  did  the  red  men  requite  his  confidence  ;  for  not 
a  drop  of  Quaker  blood  was  ever  shed  by  an  Indian.  Our 
city,  then,  was  born  in  righteousness.  Thanks,  under  a 
benign  Providence,  to  the  primitive  Quaker  colonists,  they 
laid  its  foundations  in  truth,  and  peace,  and  honesty.  It 
must  in  candor  be  added,  that  their  descendants  have 
proved  themselves  worthy  of  such  an  ancestry.  It  has 
been  their  aim  to  make  and  keep  Philadelphia  what  William 
Penn  designed  it  should  be.  Like  all  other  modern  cities, 
it  has  experienced  seasons  of  great  financial  perplexity  and 
distress.  And  it  would  be  going  too  far  to  say,  that  no- 
thing has  ever  occurred  at  these  crises,  to  awaken  solici- 
tude as  to  its  commercial  integrity.  But  I  may  say, 
that  no  class  of  men  amongst  us  have  been  more  jealous 
for  the  honor  of  the  city,  than  our  Quaker  merchants ;  and 
that  whenever  the  maxims  engraved  upon  our  ancient 
walls  have  begun  to  rust,  these  descendants  of  the  early 
builders  have  been  among  the  first  to  brush  away  the 
mould,  and,  with  pious  care,  retouch  the  sacred  inscrip- 
tions. One  of  them,  a  patriarch  of  more  than  fourscore, 
has  lately  gone  down  to  an  honored  grave,  amidst  the 
regrets  of  this  whole  community.  It  is  a  great  blessing, 
Gentlemen,  to  have  had  before  you  for  perhaps  the  entire 
period  of  your  business-lives,  such  an  exemplar  of  the  mer- 


24  ADDRESS. 

cantile  and  social  virtues,  as  Thomas  P.  Cope.  It  is  no 
disparagement  to  the  living  to  say,  that  his  name  was  one 
which  came  spontaneously  to  every  lip,  when  requisition 
was  made  for  a  genuine  Philadelj)hia  merchant.  Will  you 
indulge  me  in  a  little  anecdote,  which  may  illustrate  a 
single  trait  of  his  character.  A  person  highly  recom- 
mended, approached  him  one  day,  and  invited  him  to  em- 
hark  in  a  certain  joint-stock  enterprise.  In  a  careful  expo- 
sition of  the  matter,  he  made  it  appear  that  the  scheme 
was  likely  to  succeed,  and  that  the  stock  would  instantly 
run  up  to  a  liberal  premium,  on  being  put  into  the  market. 
"Well,"  said  Mr.  Cope,  "I  am  satisfied  on  that  point; 
I  believe  it  would  be  as  thou  sayest.  But  what  will  be 
the  real  value  of  the  stock  ?"  "Why,  as  to  that,"  answered 
the  speculator,  "  I  cannot  say  (implying  by  his  manner 
what  he  thought) ;  but  that  is  of  no  moment,  for  all  ive  have 
to  do,  is  to  sell  out  and  make  our  thirty  or  forty  per  cent, 
profit."  "I'll  have  nothing  to  do  with  it:  I'll  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it:"  was  the  prompt  and  indignant 
reply  of  this  incorruptible  merchant.  "And  from  that 
day,"  he  used  to  say,  in  relating  the  occurrence,  "  I  marked 
that  man,  and  shunned  all  transactions  with  him."  This 
was  the  integrity  of  Thomas  P.  Cope.  And  to  men  of 
kindred  principles  with  himself,  both  among  the  dead  and 
the  living,  is  Philadelphia  mainly  indebted,  under  God,  for 
her  enviable  commercial  reputation. 

This  topic  has  enticed  me  from  my  proper  theme.     I 


ADDRESS,  25 

must  not  even  enlarge  on  the  usual  causes  of  mercantile 
embarrassnfents,  sufficiently  to  place  before  you  one  of  the* 
most  fi'uitful  of  them  all,  to  wit :  extravagance  in  living.  I 
have  elsewhere*  considered  this  subject  in  its  bearings  on 
mercantile  success,  and  must  waive  a  particular  refe- 
rence to  it  here,  with  a  single  observation.  Until  our  cities 
return  to  a  more  simple  and  becoming  stv'le  of  living,  we 
must  expect  to  see  frequent  examples  of  merchants,  parti- 
cularly of  young  merchants,  whose  domestic  prodigality 
has  precipitated  them  from  the  heights  of  fashionable  epi- 
curism into  the  abyss  of  insolvency. 

Even  the  cursory  survey  we  have  now  taken  of  the 
reigning  spirit  in  the  commercial  world,  must  suffice  to 
show  the  extreme  liability  to  disaster  which  waits  upon  a 
mercantile  life.  And  this  may  be  fairly  urged  as  a  distinct 
argument  in  support  of  the  Institution,  whose  anniversary 
we  have  met  to  celebrate.  According  to  the  provision  of 
the  charter  already  quoted,  it  is  the  object  of  this  corpora- 
tion, to  "furnish  relief  to  indig'ent  merchants,  especially 
such  as  are  aged  and  infirm."  I  know  not  how  it  may 
strike  others,  but  to  my  ear,  there  is  something  very  ex- 
pressive in  this  language.  "WTien  we  hear  of  "an  indigent 
merchant — aged — and  infirm,"  the  ideas  usually  suggested, 
are  those  of  intelligence,  respectability,  comfort,  perhaps 
affluence,  now  replaced  by  penury,  seclusion,  sickness,  and 

•  Vide  ■•  The  Bible  ix  the  CoixTisc-HorsE." 


26  ADDRESS. 

despondency.  There  rises  before  the  mind,  the  image  of 
•a  man  Avho  once  tenanted  a  capacious  warehouse,  who 
daily  mingled  with  the  busy  throng  on  'Change,  who  had 
his  seat  at  the  council-board  of  a  bank  or  an  insurance 
company,  whose  vessels,  possibly,  whitened  distant  seas, 
and  whose  extended  traffic  was  the  support  of  numerous 
families.  I^ow  he  has  disappeared.  He  no  longer  crosses 
your  paths.  You  miss  his  advertisements  in  your  journals. 
Another  sign  hangs  from  his  warehouse.  His  ships  still 
go  and  come,  but  for  other  consignees.  And  the 
tumult  of  trade  is  fast  obliterating  every  public  memorial 
of  him.  What  is  to  be  done?  Shall  no  inquiry  be  made 
about  him  ?  Shall  the  great  caravan  keep  on  their  way 
without  asking  what  has  become  of  their  missing  com- 
panion, or  sending  back  a  friendly  messenger  to  look  for 
him  ?  Is  he  to  be  left  to  his  fate,  like  a  wounded  horse  on 
the  battle-field,  without  sympathy  for  his  sufferings,  or 
even  a  decent  sepulture  for  his  remains  ?  With  one  voice, 
you  answer,  "No!"  This  whole  community  of  merchants 
answers,  "ISTo!"  And  to  shoAv  that  you  mean  what  you 
say,  you  have  instituted  this  Society,  to  give  form  and 
energy  to  your  benevolence;  to  seek  out  this  stricken 
associate,  and  tell  him  there  are  those  who  remember  and 
who  cape  for  him.  They  will  find  that  he  needs  succor — 
needs  it  far  more  than  multitudes  who  invoke  it.  For 
look  at  the  peculiar  hardship  of  a  case  like  this.  What 
can  a  man  in  these  circumstances  do  ?     Merchandise  is  out 


ADDRESS.  27 

of  the  question :  his  capital  and  his  credit  are  gone.  He 
has  no  knowledge  of  the  mechanical  arts.  He  lacks 
strength  for  manual  labor : — and  if  he  did  not,  how  long 
could  a  man  live  who  had  to  drive  the  drays  he  formerly 
employed,  or  to  load  and  unload  the  ships  he  once  owned  ? 
Added  to  this,  there  will  ordinarily  be  something  in  his 
appearance  or  situation,  to  deprive  him  of  the  relief  ex- 
tended to  the  abject  poor.  He  has  not  yet  sunk  into  the 
depths  of  pauperism.  He  manages  to  keep  up  a  reputable 
appearance  in  his  person.  His  very  manners,  and  those  of 
his  family, — their  refinement,  and  modesty,  and  uncom- 
plaining resignation, — make  even  benevolent  people  feel 
that  they  are  not  suitable  objects  of  their  sympathy.  Be- 
cause there  is  no  clamor,  no  rags,  no  parade  of  their  trials, 
it  is  taken  for  granted  that  no  help  is  needed.  Thus  they 
suffer  on.  And  real  suffering  it  is.  It  has  passed  into  a 
proverb,  that  happiness  is  not  to  be  estimated  by  outward 
indications.  This  is  equally  true  of  misery.  There  are 
people  whose  acute  sensibilities  arm  misfortune  with  terrific 
power.  "Within  the  sphere  assigned  to  this  "  Merchants 
Fund,"  there  must  be  many  a  household  which  the 
most  rugged  nature  could  not  look  in  upon  without 
emotion,  were  the  veil  to  be  lifted  from  their  private  his- 
tory. What  a  struggle  is  life  with  them  !  "Wliat  a  daily 
conflict  with  wounded  pride  and  blighted  hopes !  Wliat 
mournful  reminiscences  of  former  days  !  What  pathetic 
conversations  about  the  calamities  which  have  overwhelmed 


28  ADDRESS. 

them  !  What  anxious  consultations  as  to  how  they  shall 
procure  a  scanty  support !  What  a  rigorous  economy  of 
food  and  clothing !  What  a  sedulous  plying  of  every  gift 
and  talent,  that  each  may  contribute  to  the  common 
welfare !  What  delicacy  and  skill  in  concealing  their  situa- 
tion even  from  friendly  eyes  !  What  instinctive  grace  and 
dignity  in  all  their  limited  intercourse  with  the  world! 
Such  is  not  unfrequently  the  home  of  a  stricken  merchant. 
And  in  ordinary  cases,  the  burden  and  the  honor  of  sus- 
taining it,  will  be  found  to  have  devolved  on  the  female 
portion  of  the  family.  Providence  has  endowed  that  sex 
with  an  astonishing  capacity  of  both  physical  and  moral 
endurance.  When  the  oak  falls,  it  does  not  rise  again. 
But  if  the  hurricane  strips  the  vines  from  their  trel- 
lis, they  presently  seek  a  fresh  support;  or  they  at  least 
spread  their  rich  drapery  over  the  ground.  So  the 
day  of  adversity  serves  only  to  develope  the  strength 
and  elasticity  of  the  feminine  constitution.  When  the 
husband  and  father  lies  prostrate,  the  wife  and  the  daughter 
spring  from  the  earth,  and  address  themselves  to  the 
exigencies  of  their  position  with  a  fortitude  and  a  sagacity 
which  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire.  Talk  you  of  beauty, 
and  wealth,  and  intellect,  and  generous  culture  ?  These 
are  our  true  nobility, — these  heroic  women,  to  whose  virtues 
misfortune  is  what  the  sun  is  to  the  flowers,  and  whose 
accomplishments,  once  designed  to  be  the  Corinthian 
capitals  of  their  domestic  state,  they  are  now  laboriously 


ADDRESS.  29 

and  cheerfully  working  into  its  shattered  foundations.  I 
know  of  no  class  of  persons  in  society  more  deserving  of 
our  homage ;  and  the  man  who  can  refuse  them  this 
tribute,  is  a  reproach  to  that  humanity  which  they  dignify 
and  adorn. 

That  you  concur  in  these  views,  is  sufficiently  attested 
by  the  occasion  which  has  convened  us.  You  have  learned 
how  to  appreciate  the  suffering  which  desolates  these  once 
happy  homes,  and  devised  a  scheme  of  relief  eminently  in 
keeping  with  the  end  to  be  accomplished.  Christian  phi- 
lanthropy has  rarely  essayed  a  more  delicate  task,  but  your 
thoughtful  kindness  has  triumphed  over  all  difficulties. 
Your  fallen  brethren — fallen  not  in  character  but  in  fortune 
— do  not  publish  their  sorrows.  They  do  not  solicit  relief. 
It  is  a  most  significant  fact,  that  not  one  application  has  yet 
been  made  to  the  "  Merchants  Fund"  for  aid.  You 
respect  these  feelings.  So  far  from  invading  the  sanctity 
which  attaches  to  them,  you  understand  that  you  have  to 
deal  with  persons  whom  no  money  could  compensate  for 
an  exposure  of  their  necessities,  and  to  whom  public  relief 
would  be  far  more  intolerable  than  secret  suffering. 
You  seek  them  out  therefore.  You  go  to  them,  some 
one  or  two  of  your  executive  officers,  as  friends  and 
fellow-merchants,  and  claim  the  privilege  of  light- 
ening their  burdens,  and  augmenting  their  scanty 
comforts.     No  violence  is  done  to  their  self-respect.     They 


30  ADDRESS. 

are  left  in  their  own  homes  and  in  the  exercise  of  their 
usual  avocations.  Their  names  do  not  appear  upon  your 
records ;  and  the  contributors  themselves  know  not  who 
they  are.  Here,  indeed,  is  a  beautiful  feature  of  this  Insti- 
tution— the  mutual  confidence  which  obtains  among  its 
members.  You  place  your  money  in  the  hands  of  your 
Executive  Committee ;  they  appropriate  it ;  and  you  are 
satisfied.  All  you  know,  or  care  to  know,  is,  that  they  are 
the  medium  of  communication  between  you  and  some  fel- 
low-merchants who  have  been  overtaken  by  reverses.  The 
whole  arrangement  is  characterized  by  delicacy  and  dis- 
crimination. Instead  of  a  mere  fortuitous  and  impulsive 
charity,  going  forth  in  random  benefactions  to  the  deserving 
and  the  undeserving,  here  is  a  well-ordered  and  systematic 
mechanism,  guided  by  Christian  wisdom,  and  applying  its 
resources  only  to  meritorious  objects.  A  single  example 
will  illustrate  the  working  of  the  plan,  much  better  than  I 
could  describe  it.  The  following  narrative  has  been  handed 
me  by  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Society : — 

"  The  name  of  C.  D.  having  been  suggested  as  a  proper 
object  of  the  benefactions  of  the  Society  (for  of  all  the  bene- 
ficiaries of  the  Fund  none  have  ever  made  application),  he 
was  immediately  recollected  by  some  of  the  Committee,  as 
having  formerly  been  an  active  and  respected  merchant  of 
our  city,  and  in  circumstances  of  considerable  affluence. 
Having,  however,  experienced  severe  reverses  of  fortune,  he 


ADDRESS.  31 

had,  for  many  yeai*s,  Leeii  withdrawn  from  the  business-world 
and  was  living  in  great  seclusion,  and,  from  some  circum- 
stances, it  was  feared  in  occasional  want.  Upon  visiting  his 
family  at  their  humble  lodging,  this  apprehension  was  real- 
ized. With  that  shrinking  from  an  exposure  of  their  pov- 
erty which,  if  it  be  an  infirmity,  is  the  infirmity  of  noble 
minds,  they  have  struggled  on  for  years,  earning  by  their 
united  labor,  the  means  of  providing  sometimes  one  and 
sometimes  two  meals  a  day.  The  father,  of  more  than 
eighty  years  old,  gained  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  cents  per  day 
by  collecting  small  bills,  an  occupation  which  took  him  from 
Kensington  to  Southwark,  and  from  the  Delaware  to  the 
Schuylkill,  and  in  all  weather.  His  aged  partner  was  found  at 
the  wash-tub,  washing  the  clothes  of  some  mechanics,  who 
paid  her  as  they  could  aftbrd  ;  while  of  the  two  daughters, 
one  earned  a  scantv'  pittance  by  binding  shoes,  the  other 
had  been  long  confined  to  her  bed  from  a  complaint  of  the 
spine. 

"  Upon  being  informed  that  an  appropriation  had  been 
made  for  his  benefit  by  the  Society,  he  evinced  great  emo- 
tion, but  said  he  could  not  conscientiously  receive  it ;  that 
though  at  times  sorely  straitened,  he  and  his  family  had 
so  far  been  fed ;  while  there  were  doubtless  others  in  greater 
need.  Upon  its  being  explained  that  the '  Merchants  Fund' 
did  not  by  any  means  merely  contemplate  relieving  the 
extremity  of  suffering  want,  but  the  furnishing  of  the  com- 


32  ADDRESS. 

forts  which  age  and  infirmity  require,  to  those  members  of 
the  profession  who,  in  the  providence  of  God,  were  unable 
to  procure  them  for  themselves,  he  said  he  could  not  at 
any  rate  avail  himself  of  the  kind  offer  until  one  fact  was 
made  known  to  the  Committee.  A  few  years  before,  an 
old  friend  had  bequeathed  to  him  the  sum  of  $500,  with  a 
recommendation  that  the  principal  should  be  touched  only 
in  case  of  extreme  emergency.  So  far  he  had  used  only  the 
income;  nothing  but  dire  necessityshould  force  him  to  con- 
sume the  sole  provision  he  had  to  leave  to  his  aged  partner 
and  his  invalid  daughter.  All  this  must  be  known  by  the 
Committee. 

"It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add,  that  this  exhibition  of 
magnanimity — for,  to  abstain  from  an  offered  advantage  not 
to  be  enjoyed  except  at  the  expense  of  a  good  conscience, 
is  true  moral  greatness — did  not  lessen  the  desire  of  the 
Committee  to  extend  to  this  well-deserving  gentleman  a 
participation  in  the  benefits  of  the  "Merchants  Fund," 
which  he  still  continues  to  enjoy.  Upon  the  final  action  of 
the  Committee  being  communicated  to  him,  he  threw  his 
arms  around  the  neck  of  the  messenger  and  wept  for  joy." 

This  touching  narrative  may  well  relieve  me  from  tres- 
passing longer  upon  your  patience.  You  know  not  who 
this  aged  man  is.  But  you  do  know,  that  your  bounty  has 
kindled  a  new  light  in  his  humble  dwelling ;  that  you  are 
smoothing  his  pathway  to  the  tomb ;  that  you  are  plucking 


ADDRESS.  33 

some  tlioriis  out  of  the  pillow  of  that  sick  daughter ;  and 
cheerino;  all  their  hearts  with  the  consciousness  that  there 
are  those  who  feel  for  them.  I  will  not  say  that  in  this 
conviction,  you  have  your  full  reward.  But  I  am  sure  your 
own  happiness  is  greatly  increased  by  the  reflection,  that 
you  are  sending  comfort  and  hope  into  every  one  of  these 
afflicted  households  mentioned  in  your  admirable  Report. 
And  this  you  are  doing  on  a  scale  quite  beyond  the  limit 
of  your  pecuniary  appropriations.  To  the  persons  you  are 
assisting,  every  dollar  has  a  value  which  more  than  doubles 
its  intrinsic  worth.  It  comes  to  them  as  a  token  of  sym- 
pathy ;  as  a  pledge  that  there  are  those  who  have  thoughts 
of  kindness  towards  them.  And,  aside  from  the  consola- 
tions of  religion,  there  is  nothing  like  this  to  banish  the 
sense  of  desolation,  and  to  diffuse  a  grateful  tranquillity 
over  the  soul.  Other  families  need  the  same  ministration 
of  mercy.  "  Many  a  hand  is  held  up,  and  no  man  seeth 
it ;  many  a  groan  is  wasted  in  the  air  ;  many  die  in  secret, 
and  like  the  moments  of  the  day,  they  perish  and  are  for- 
gotten." 

Go  on,  then  Gentlemen,  with  your  noble  charity — go  on 
in  His  strength  who  has  said,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done 
it  unto  me."  We  may  congratulate  each  other  that  Phila- 
delphia, the  native  soil  of  so  many  philanthropic  enter- 
prises, should  have  been  the  first  city  on  the  globe  to  origi- 


34  ADDRESS. 

nate  a  "Merchants  Fund."  Let  it  be  guarded  and 
nurtured  as  it  deserves,  and  it  will  soon  take  an  honorable 
place  among  those  beneficent  Institutions  which  are  the 
pride  and  ornament  of  our  metropolis.  Other  cities  will 
copy  your  example  ;  and  the  seed  which  j^ou  have  planted, 
may  bear  fruit  for  distant  lands  and  the  remotest  genera- 
tions. 


(DffirnB  for  1805, 


PRESIDENT. 

JOHN  M.  ATWOOD. 

TICE-PRESIDEXTS. 

WILLIAM  PLATT. 
SINGLETON  A.  MERCER. 

TREASURER. 

WILLIAM  C.  LUDWIG. 

SECRETARY. 

THOMAS  H.  FENTON. 


John  M.  Atwood,  James  B.  McFarland, 

William  Platt,  Henry  White, 

Singleton  A.  Mercer,  Edwin  Mitchell, 

William  C.  Ludwig,  James  C.  Hand, 

William  H.  Bacon,  Francis  Hoskins, 

Thomas  Allibone,  Thomas  H.  Fenton, 

John  W.  Claghorn,  Thomas  F.  Brady, 

Arthur  G.  Coffin,  Joseph  C.  Grubb, 

Thomas  Robins,  John  Ashhurst, 

William  E.  Bowen,  John  Mason. 

PHTSICIANS. 

ROBERT  P.  THOMAS,  M.D.    ROBERT  T.  EVANS,  M.D. 

No.  106  North  Twelfth  Street.  No.  435  Chestnut  Street. 

COUNSELLORS. 

St.  GEORGE  TUCKER  CAMPBELL, 
BENJAMIN  GERHARD. 


taiiMiig  CommittFEH. 


EXECUTIVE    COMMITTEE. 

THOMAS  ROBINS, 

FRANCIS  HOSKINS, 

JOHN  W.  CLAGHORN, 

JAMES  C.  HAND, 

JOS.  C.  GRUBB, 

WILLIAM  C.  LUDWIG,  Treasurer. 


FINANCE    COMMITTEE. 


SINGLETON  A.  MERCER, 
THOMAS  ALLIBONE, 
JAMES  B.  McFARLAND, 
WILLIAM  C.  LUDWIG,  Treasurer. 


Applications  for  aid  should  be  addressed  to  the  Executive  Committee. 


life  J&EiiibErs. 


AUibonc,  Thomas 
Ashhurst,  John 
Ashhurst,  Richard 
Ashhurst.  Lewis  R. 
Atwood,  John  M. 
Bacon,  Wm.  H. 
Borie,  Charles 
Bowen,  Smith 
Bowen,  Wm.  E. 
Brady,  Thos.  F. 
Brown,  S.  David 
Carpenter,  Saml.  H. 
Coffin,  Arthur  G. 
Colwell,  Stephen 
Claghorn,  Jno.  W. 
Clark,  E.  W. 
Craige,  Seth 
Davis,  Isaac  R. 
Ellison,  John  B. 
Fales,  George 
Farnum,  Henry 
Farnum,  John 
Fisher,  C.  H. 
Fraley,  F. 
Fuller,  Oliver 
Grigg,  John 
Grubb,  Jos.  C. 
Hand,  James  C. 
Hay,  Wm. 
Hoskins,  Francis 


Kent,  Wm.  C. 
Kneedler,  J.  S. 
Lea,  Thos.  T. 
Leje^,  Wm.  R. 
Love,  Wm.  H. 
Lovering,  Jos.  S. 
Ludwig,  William  C. 
Maison,  Peter 
Mason,  John 
Medara,  Jos.  S. 
Mercer,  Hall  W. 
Mercer,  Singleton  A. 
Milne,  David 
Moore,  Marmaduke 
Myers,  John  B. 
McHenry,  A.  R. 
McFarland,  James  B. 
Parrish,  Geo.  D. 
Paul,  Bettle 
Perot,  EUiston 
Potter,  Thos.  E. 
Piatt,  AVilliam 
Robins,  Thomas 
Rolin,  Wm.  A. 
Sharpless,  Townsend 
Stuart,  Geo.  H. 
Tingley,  B.  W. 
Walsh,  Robt.  F. 
Wood,  Horatio  C. 


Slnniial  JtiemherB. 


Addicks,  John  E. 
Aertsen,  James  M. 
Altemus,  Jos.  B. 
Altemus,  Saml.  T. 
Anspach,  Jr.,  John 
Antelo,  A.  J. 
Arnold,  Geo.  F. 
Ash,  J.  P. 
Ashmead,  Thos.  E. 
Ashhurst,  Richard 

Bacon,  Josiah 
Bacon,  Edmund 
Berg,  Leon 
Biddle,  Robert 
Biddle,  Wm.  Canby 
Biddle,  Henry  J. 
Bonnaffon,  A.  L. 
Bonnaffon,  Sylvester 
Boyd,  John  0. 
Brady,  P. 
Brinley,  E.  L. 
Brognard,  L.  N. 
Brown,  Wm.  H. 
Brown,  T.  Wister 
Bullock,  Geo. 
Bunn,  Sol.  M. 
Burk,  Jas.  A. 

Caldwell,  S.  A. 

Caldwell,  Thos. 
Cannell,  J.  W. 


Carson,  H.  L. 
Chur,  A.  T. 
Coates,  Wm.  C. 
Coates,  Benjamin 
Cochran,  Wm.  ^. 
Conrad,  Harry 
Cooke,  Jay 
Cope,  Francis  R. 
Cope,  Henry 
Cope,  Alfred 
Creighton,  Robert 
Croasdill,  W.  C. 


Davis,  John  C. 
Davis,  Wm.  M. 
Davis,  E.  M. 
Day,  Henry 
Dorsey,  Wm. 
Drexel,  A. 
Drexel,  F.  A. 
Drexel,  F.  W. 
Dulles,  Jos.  H. 
Dulles,  Jos.  H., 


Jr. 


Ellis,  Amos 
Ellison,  Wm. 
English,  Gustavus 
Evans,  Owen 
Evans,  Wm.  R. 

Facon,  Thos. 
Farnum,  John 


A  X  X  U  A  L     M  E  -AI  B  E  R  S. 


RO 


Famum,  Peter 
Fell,  Franklin 
Fenton,  Thos.  H. 
Field,  Benjamin 
Fitzgerald,  Jesse 
Furness,  J.  T. 

Gans,  Daniel 
Green,  Anthony 
Grundy,  Edmund 

Hacker,  Geo.  W. 
Hacker,  Isaac 
Hacker,  Wm.  P. 
Hallowell,  Chas. 
Hallowell,  Josh.  L. 
Hallowell,  M.  L. 
HaUowell,  W.  P. 
Hamlin,  Wm.  K. 
Heilman,  Amos  G. 
Hendry,  John  A. 
Heron,  A.  Jr. 
Hieskill,  Colson 
Hinman,  D.  B, 
Hoopes,  J.  Ross 
Huston,  Samuel 
Hutchinson,  E.  R, 

Iddings,  James 
Imbrie,  James 

Jones,  Isaac  T. 

Kent,  Rudolphus 
Keyset,  Daniel 

Lamb,  C.  B. 
Lamed,  Wm.  H. 
Lea,  Joseph 
Leonard,  Saml. 
Lewis,  A.  J. 
Lewis,  E.  J.,  M.D. 
Lewis,  E.  M. 
Lewis,  Jr.,  Henry 
Lewis,  John  A. 


Levy,  L.  J. 
Lippincott,  George 
Lippincott,  Jr.,  Joshua 
Little,  A.  W. 
Lothrop,  Z. 

Manderson,  Wm.  L. 
Marsh,  Benj.  Y. 
Martin,  Wm. 
Massey,  E.  K. 
Mercer,  J.  C. 
Mercer,  Singleton  A. 
Miller,  Charles 
Miller,  Charles  P. 
Miller,  Daniel  L. 
Miskey,  Anthony 
Mitchell,  Edwin 
Molten,  Albert 
Moss,  E.  L. 
Mott,  Edw'd  T. 
Murphy,  Jas. 
McCowch,  Wm. 
McElroy,  A. 
McKee,  Wm. 

Newbold,  Wm.  H. 
Newbold,  John  L. 
Xewhouse,  Joseph 
Newkirk,  Matthew 

Oak,  David  E. 
Ogden,  Chas.  S. 
Okie,  J.  B. 
Olmstead,  A.  J. 
Oppenheimer,  A. 
Orne,  Benjamin 

Parry,  Samuel 
Patterson,  Morris 
Patterson,  Jos. 
Peabody,  Geo.  F. 
Potter,  John 
Pratt,  Wm.  E. 
Price,  Jos. 
Price,  Richard 


40 


ANNUAL    MEMBERS. 


Ponder,  John 

Raiguel,  Augustus  II. 
Raiguel,  Henry  R. 
Raphael,  Wm. 
Reed,  J.  Earl 
Reed,  Robt.  S. 
Reed,  Michael 
Reese,  Geo.  B. 
Reid,  John 
Remington,  T.  P. 
Ritter,  Abraham 
Richardson,  Wm.  C. 
Roberts,  Geo.  H. 
Robins,  Edward 

Saunderson,  Z.  W. 
Scull,  Alfred  P. 
Scull,  David 
Senat,  L.  D. 
Sexton,  Jno.  W. 
Sharp,  Jos.  W. 
Sharpless,  Joseph  J. 
Shepherd,  Solomon 
Sherron,  Jas.  F. 
Shipley,  A.  B. 
Sill,  John  T. 
Silvis,  Benj. 
Skillman,  Wm.  G. 
Slade,  Alfred 
Smith,  T. 
Smith,  Solomon 
Snowden,  Edw'd 
Souder,  Edmund  A. 
Spangler,  C.  E. 
Sprague,  B. 
Steiner,  Jacob 
Steiner,  J.  P. 


Steinmetz,  Danl, 
Stokes,  Samuel  E. 
Stroup,  James  H. 

Tatum,  Daniel  0. 
Tennent,  James 
Tete,  Francis 
Toppan,  Charles 
Traquair,  James 
Tunis,  Thos.  R. 
Tyndale,  Hector 

Vezin,  Chas. 

Wainwright,  Wm.  J. 
Wain,  Lewis 
AValter,  T. 
Weber,  John  C. 
Weiner,  Heinrich 
Welling,  Chas.  H. 
Wendell,  M.  R. 
Wetherill,  John  Price 
Wharton,  C.  W, 
Wharton,  D.  C. 
Whelan,  John  G. 
White,  AVm.  R. 
White,  Henry 
Williamson,  M. 
Wilson,  J. 
Withers,  Jos.  N. 
Wolfe,  Nicholas 
Wood,  Geo.  H. 
Wray,  James 
Wurts,  Chas.  S. 

Yarnall,  Howard 
Young,  Thomas  S. 


SUGCtESTIONS 


YOUNG     MEN 


ENGAGED  IN 


MERCANTILE   BUSINESS: 


A  DISCOURSE 

OCCASIONED  BY  THE 

DEATH  OF  MR.  ARCHIBALD  SLOAN,  AT  THE  MERCHANTS' 
HOTEL,  PHILADELPHIA,  OCTOBER  9th,  1851. 


BY 


H.    A.    BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
LIPPINCOTT,    GRAMBO    AND    CO., 

SUCCESSOKS  TO  GRIGG,  ELLIOT  AND  CO. 

1851. 


Enteretl  according-  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851,  by 

LIPPINCOTT,  GKAMBO  AND  CO., 

in  the  OlFice  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  in  and  for  the  Eastern  District  of 
Pennsylvania. 


rniLADELPiiiA: 

T.  K.  AND  p.  G.  COLLINS,  PRINTERS. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Philadelphia,  Kov.  1,  1851. 
Dear  Sir: — Having  listened,  with  great  interest,  to  the  sermon  you 
delivered  on  Sunday  evening  last,  addressed  to  "  the  Mercantile  Classes," 
and  desiring  that  its  usefulness  may  be  extended,  by  affording  an  op- 
portunity for  its  perusal  to  the  community  at  large,  we  respectfully 
request,  on  our  own  behalf  and  on  that  of  many  others  who  heard  you, 
that  you  will  furnish  us  with  a  copy  for  publication. 

With  much  respect,  your  obedient  servants, 

T.  G.  Moss, 
W.  R.  Casox, 
Geo.  M.  Procter, 
H.  J.  Smith. 
Rev.  Dr.  Boardman. 


Philadelphia,  Kov.  1st,  1851. 
To  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Boardmax,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir: — The  undersigned  listened  with  great  satisfaction  to  the 
sermon  delivered  by  you  on  Sunday  evening  the  26th  ult.,  occasioned 
by  the  death  of  one  of  our  companions,  Mr.  Archibald  Sloan,  and  are 
deeply  impressed  with  the  belief  that  its  publication  and  general  circu- 
lation would  be  productive  of  much  good  in  this  community,  more 
particularly  to  that  class  to  which  we  belong,  and  to  whom  it  was 
especially  addressed.  With  that  view,  we  most  respectfully  ask  from 
you  the  manuscript  for  publication. 


Francis  Squire. 
W.  M.  F.  Magraw, 
Robert  A.  Crawford, 
C.  C.  Haffelfinger, 
Lambert  Thomas, 
J.  Allison  Eyster, 
Alex.  T.  Lane, 
H.  T.  McVeigh, 
E.  W.  Davidson, 
Jacob  Zeller, 
E.  C.  Huntington, 
C.  D.  Russell, 
Henry  C.  Laughlin, 
LowBER  Burrows, 


Benjamin  F.  Grove, 
S.  H.  Smith, 
Harry  A.  Gleim, 
Geo.  W.  Wanamaker, 
Jos.  S.  Brown, 
Jos.  Webster, 
W.  M.  Reckless, 
John  C.  Ralston, 
J.  W.  Whiteman, 
Francis  A.  Ferry, 
Wm.  T.  Dortch, 
John  Jordan, 
A.  Emslie  Xewbold, 
Hugh  P.  Schetky, 


IV 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


1 


Wm.  J.  Barr, 
Henry  Lelar,  Jr. 
J.  M.  Taylor, 
H.  A.  Leavitt, 

Geo.  S.  Tobes, 
W.  Aug's  Andre^ys, 
Wqarton  Griffitts, 
Harry  Stiles, 
Wm.  II.  NicoLS, 
Alex.  Omensetter, 
Jas.  W.  Veazey, 
James  H.  Cochrane, 
W.  N.  Ashman, 
Frank  Cookman, 
Isaac  W.  Webb, 
RicHD.  Parker, 
John  B.  Penn, 
George  T.  Heather, 
Saml.  p.  Darlington, 
J.  M.  Carskadden, 
E.  S.  Howell, 
L.  Leavitt, 
Hugh  B.  McCauley, 
J.  H.  Meehan, 
David  I.  Haun, 
James  AY.  Wroth, 
Edmund  B.  Orbison, 
H.  Haddock, 
James  W.  Linville, 

Alfred 


William  Chaffee, 
J.  W.  Stout, 
Saml.  II,  Sterett, 
Chas.  D.  Hurlbutt, 
Wm.  p.  Rockhill, 
M.  Jno.  Moore, 

A.  W.  Nash, 
Geo.  S.  Scott, 
C.  B.  Slagle, 
John  C.  Weber, 
Saml.  Si'arhawk, 
Thompson  Ritchie, 
Edwin  A.  Merrick, 
J.  P.  Burroughs, 
Geo.  W.  Gill, 
John  S.  Wenner, 
F.  C.  Potter, 

B.  A.  Buck, 
Wm.  F.  Wilkins, 

C.  W.  Yard, 

C.  W.  Sydnor, 
Saml.  Milliken,  Jr. 
Wm.  H.  Gregg, 

D.  M.  Swarr, 
C.  J.  Shower, 
II,  D.  Lawrence, 
George  C.  Barber, 
David  E.  Oak, 
Washington  Danner, 

Nesmitii. 


Philadelphia,  Hov.  Zd,  1851. 
Gentlemen: — Having  been  led  by  the  lamented  death  of  Mr.  Sloan 
to  reflect  on  the  position  and  relations  of  the  large  body  of  Young  Men 
in  our  commercial  houses,  the  unwelcome  conviction  was  forced  upon 
me,  that  our  pastors  generally,  myself  included,  had  scarcely  recognized 
them  as  a  distinct  class  in  the  community,  much  less  put  forth  any  suit- 
able efforts  for  their  welfare.  Under  the  influence  of  this  feeling,  the 
discourse  you  have  in  such  kind  terms  requested  for  publication,  was 
written.  You  will  need  no  assurance  from  me  that  it  was  prepared 
without  the  slightest  reference  to  the  press  ;  but  I  do  not  feel  that  this 
is  a  sufficient  reason  for  withholding  it,  if,  as  you  seem  to  suppose,  its 
suggestions  are  adapted  to  be  useful  to  those  who  listened  to  it  from 
the  pulpit.  The  manuscript  is  herewith  placed  at  your  disposal. 
Very  truly  and  faithfully,  yours, 

H.  A.  BOARDMAN. 
To  Messrs.  T.  G.  Moss, 
W.  R.  Cason, 
Francis  Squire, 
W.  M,  F,  Magraw,  and  others. 


SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUTO  MEN 


EXGAGED  ly 


MERCANTILE  BUSINESS. 


But  seek  te  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness;  and 

ALL  these  things  SHALL  BE  ADDED  UNTO  YOU. MaTT.  VI.  33. 

Funeral  pageants  are  too  common  in  large  cities 
to  attract  notice,  unless  they  are  marked  by  some 
peculiar  circumstances.  About  two  weeks  since,  on 
a  mild  and  serene  afternoon,  one  passed  along  our 
streets  to  a  cemetery  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city, 
which  did  for  the  time  bring  the  eager  throng  in  the 
thoroughfares  to  a  pause,  and  excite  at  least  a  tran- 
sient feeling  of  interest.  It  was  a  long  procession  of 
Young  Men  following  the  remains  of  a  friend  and 
companion  to  the  grave.  He  came  here  from  Ten- 
nessee three  or  four  years  ago,  as  a  clerk  in  an  emi- 
nent commercial  house.  His  integrity  and  capacity, 
his  fidelity  and  diligence,  his  modest  demeanor  and 
high-souled,  generous  disposition,  secured  him  the 
confidence  of  his   employers,  the  cordial  esteem  of 


6  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

his  associates,  and  the  respect  of  all  who  met  with 
him.     No  one  will  be  found  to  gainsay  the  assertion 
that  he  was  a  general  favorite ;  and  that  any  of  his 
contemporaries  may  esteem  themselves  happy,  who 
are  as  much  beloved  as  he  was.     He  retired  to  rest 
of  a  Saturday  night  in  his  usual  vigorous  health — his 
tall  athletic  form  and  manly  countenance  betraying 
no  indication  of  the  insidious  foe  which  had  entrench- 
ed itself  in  the  very  citadel  of  life.     Before  the  morn- 
ing he  was  seized  by  an  impetuous  and  unconquerable 
malady  which,  after  four  brief  days  and  nights  of 
dreadful  suffering,  left  him  a  pallid  corpse.     All  that 
medical  skill  and  faithful  nursing  (such  nursing,  per- 
haps, as  is  rarely  experienced  in  a  great  hotel)  could 
do,  was  done  to  save  him.     If  sympathy  and  affec- 
tion could  have  averted  the  blow,  the  kind  ministra- 
tions and  the  tears  of  the  young   men   who   were 
constantly  around  his  bed,  and  who  supplied  as  well 
as  might  be  the  place  of  relatives,  must  have  insured 
a  reprieve.     But  his  hour  had  come.     He  died — died 
with  the  flush  of  health  upon  his  cheek,  before  dis- 
ease had  wasted  his  flesh,  and,  as  it  were,  in  the  full- 
ness of  his  strength — as  a  noble  ship,  her  timbers  all 
sound,  her  spars  complete,  and  all  her  canvass  spread, 
has  sometimes  disappeared  suddenly  beneath  the  sea. 
The  startling  severity  of  the  blow  sent  a  thrill  through 
many  hearts.     A  large  concourse  of  his  companions, 
with  many  of  our  merchants,  assembled  to  do  honor 
to  his  remains;  and  as  the  sad  cortege  passed  on  with 
a  slow  and  solemn  tread  to  the  place  of  sepulture,  it 


ENGAGED  IX  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  < 

was  honorable  alike  to  the  livina:  and  the  dead  to  see 
how  many  hearts  were  touched  by  this  spectacle — the 
funeral  of  a  young  man  ! 

If  God  speaks  to  us  in  his  providence  as  well  as  by 
his  word,  an  event  like  this  should  not  be  treated 
with  indifference.  It  is  charged  with  a  mission  which 
it  deeply  behooves  us  to  understand.  We  shall  not, 
probably,  misinterpret  one  of  its  lessons  if  we  make 
it  the  occasion  of  considering,  for  a  little,  the  position 
and  relations  of  the  class  of  young  men  to  which  our 
deceased  friend  belonged,  and  the  importance  to  them 
of  personal  religion. 

I  speak  of  them  as  a  class  by  themselves,  for  such, 
in  fact,  they  are.  The  young  men  in  our  mercantile 
establishments — those  particularly  in  our  ^"jobbing 
houses" — are,  most  of  them,  from  abroad.  They  are 
neither  natives  of  this  city,  nor  are  they  here  for  a 
year  or  two  simply  as  students.  They  have  come 
here  to  reside,  and  are  ultimately  to  become  mer- 
chants themselves.  This  is  one  circumstance  which 
marks  them  as  a  distinct  class. 

Another  is  that  they  usually  board  at  the  hotels. 
Commercial  ends  are  secured  by  this,  which  are 
thought  to  be  of  much  importance. 

They  have,  again,  a  common  occupation.  They 
are  in  the  same,  or  similar,  kinds  of  business.  The 
received  methods  of  our  inland  commerce  impart  a 
substantial  identity  to  their  duties,  their  temptations, 
their  pleasures,  and  their  general  mode  of  lifo,  and 


8  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

separate  them,  in  a  measure,  from  the  rest  of  the 
community. 

These  attributes  of  the  class,  as  such,  must  suffice 
to  show  that  their  position  is  not  altogether  favorable 
lo  the  cultivation  of  virtue  and  religion.  There  is  a 
great  deal  involved  in  taking  a  young  man  from  his 
home,  and  setting  him  down  to  do  for  himself  in  a 
large  city.  The  mere  removal  of  a  youth  from  a 
good  home  to  any  other  situation — to  a  school  or 
college,  to  the  house  of  a  friend  or  relative,  to  a  shoj^ 
or  a  store — brings  with  it  a  serious  trial  of  character. 
But  here  the  case  is  a  very  strong  one.  Compare  a 
modest,  tranquil  dwelling  in  a  small  town  or  hamlet 
of  Kentucky  or  Tennessee,  with  one  of  our  mammoth 
Hotels,  and  you  will  begin  to  understand  the  ordeal 
which  some  thousands  of  young  men  in  our  city  have 
passed  through.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  of  any 
greater  social  change  which  they  could  have  experi- 
enced, than  this.  At  a  single  bound  they  have 
passed  from  all  the  genial  influences  which  sheltered, 
restrained,  and  nurtured  them  in  such  a  home,  into 
a  scene  which  contains  scarcel}^  an  element  of  domes- 
tic life.  Instead  of  sitting  down  at  a  snug  family 
board  with  the  same  little  group  from  month  to 
month,  they  sit  at  a  table  with  two  or  three  hundred 
guests,  and  these  changing  everj^  day.  In  place  of 
the  sympathy,  the  tenderness,  the  mutual  confidence 
and  refining  fellowship  of  a  mother  and  sisters,  they 
are  surrounded  by  men — respectable  and  worthy  per- 
sons, no  doubt,  but  all  men — and  as  such,  no  adequate 


ENGAGED  IX  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  9 

companions  to  replace  the  circle  they  have  left.  For 
an  atmosphere  of  love,  where  there  was  some  one  to 
share  in  every  joy,  and  divide  every  trouble ;  where 
their  every  want  was  promptly  supplied,  and  every 
indication  of  pain  or  anxiety  was  made  the  occasion 
for  fresh  offices  of  afifection ;  they  have  been  trans- 
planted into  one  which,  though  not  destitute  of  this 
element,  savors  far  more  of  indifference  and  selfish- 
ness. They  are  in  a  throng  who  are  thrown  together 
by  interest  or  convenience,  business  or  pleasure  ;  the 
most  of  whom  are  not  stationary  long  enough  to  form 
any  attachments ;  and  who  sever  the  precarious  tie 
which  constitutes  their  transient  bond  of  union,  with 
as  little  feeling  as  they  formed  it. 

This  change  in  their  domestic  relations  is  emble- 
matical of  that  which  has  taken  place  in  their  situa- 
tion at  large.  They  have  relinquished  the  seclusion 
and  simplicity  of  the  country,  for  life  in  a  great 
metropolis.  Everything  here  is  widely  different. 
The  outward  face  of  things  is  so  unlike  the  country, 
that  a  vounsi;  man  is  often  bewildered  when  he  is  first 
dropped  in  the  heart  of  a  city,  with  its  multitudinous 
streets  and  lanes,  its  interminable  ranges  of  houses 
and  shops,  its  imposing  public  buildings,  the  rapid 
succession  of  vehicles  of  every  pattern  which  sweep 
along  the  avenues,  and  the  endless  crowds  of  human 
beings  that  jostle  each  other  on  the  sidewalks.  It  is 
to  such  a  youth  a  new  world — stranger  and  more 
exciting  even  than  it  would  be  to  an  intelligent  and 
travelled  American  or  European,  to  be  put  down  in 


10  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

the  streets  of  Pekin  or  Jecldo.  Nor  is  the  exchange 
very  advantageous  on  the  score  of  morals.  Natural 
scenery,  it  is  true,  will  never  renew  the  heart.  Vol- 
taire wrote  many  of  his  infamous  libels  upon  Chris- 
tianity, and  some  of  his  most  licentious  tales  and 
essays,  while  looking  out  from  his  villa  at  Ferney, 
upon  as  glorious  a  panorama  as  mortal  eyes  ever 
gazed  upon.  And  humanity  has  few  more  degraded 
specimens  of  its  handiwork  to  present  to  the  sympathy 
of  the  philanthropist,  than  some  which  can  be  found 
among  the  most  picturesque  regions  of  the  globe. 
Still,  there  is  much  in  nature,  as  contrasted  with  a 
great  city,  that  is  adapted  to  refine  and  improve  the 
character — 

"  Scenes  formed  for  contemplation,  and  to  nurse 
The  growing  seeds  of  wisdom ;  that  suggest, 
By  every  pleasing  image  they  present, 
Reflections  such  as  meliorate  the  heart. 
Compose  the  passions  and  exalt  the  mind." 

It  is  certainly  a  material  advantage  that  in  the 
country,  the  objects  which  meet  the  senses  speak  of 
God,  while  in  the  city  we  are  reminded  only  of  man. 
Not  only  do  the  mountains  and  forests,  the  valleys 
and  rivers,  illustrate  the  wisdom  and  majesty  of  the 
Deity ;  but  "  the  spectacle  of  active  nature  is  no  less 
favorable  to  the  cultivation  of  religious  feeling  than 
the  contemplation  of  its  passive  scenes ;  every  bird 
and  every  animal  has  its  habits  of  life  independent 
of  man;  it  has  a  sagacity  which  man  never  taught; 
and  propensities  which  man  could  not  inspire.     The 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  11 

growth  of  all  the  plants  and  fruits  of  the  earth, 
depends  upon  laws  over  which  man  has  no  control : 
out  of  great  cities  there  is  everywhere  around  and 
about  us  a  vast  system  going  on  utterly  independent 
of  human  wisdom  and  human  interference ;  and  man 
learns  there  the  great  lesson  of  his  imbecility  and 
dependence,  not  by  that  reflection  to  which  superior 
minds  alone  can  attain,  but  by  those  daily  impres- 
sions upon  his  senses  w^iich  make  the  lesson  more 
universal  and  more  certain.  But  here  everything  is 
man,  and  man  alone ;  kings  and  senates  command  usj 
we  talk  of  their  decrees  and  look  up  to  their  pleasure; 
they  seem  to  move  and  govern  all,  and  to  be  the  pro- 
vidence of  cities;  in  this  seat  of  government,  placed 
under  the  shadow  of  those  who  make  the  laws,  we  do 
not  render  unto  CaBsar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's, 
and  unto  God  the  things  which  are  God's;  but  God  is 
forgotten,  and  Csesar  is  supreme ;  all  is  human  policy, 
human  foresight,  human  power;  nothing  reminds  us 
of  invisible  dominion  and  concealed  omnipotence ;  we 
do  nothing  but  what  man  bids;  we  see  nothing  but 
what  man  creates;  we  mingle  with  nothing  but  what 
man  commands ;  it  is  all  earth  and  no  heaven. '"=' 

In  the  letter,  this  pertains  to  London;  in  its  spirit 
it  applies  to  all  great  cities.  Nor  does  it  state  the 
whole  truth.  Not  only  have  we  to  do  here  with 
man's  works,  man's  laws,  man's  projects,  with  every- 
thing that  is  of  man  and  that  is  fitted  to  fasten  the 

*  Sydney  Smith. 


12  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

attention  upon  man,  but  we  "live  and  move  and  have 
our  being '  amidst  a  crowd — and  it  must  be  a  robust 
integrity  which  can  stand  this.  We  are  admonished 
against  the  danger  from  this  source  on  high  authority. 
"Be  not  ye  the  servants  of  men."  "  Thou  shalt  not 
follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil."  The  best  of  us  need 
to  have  these  warnings  frequently  sounded  in  our 
ears.  And  how  essential  are  they  to  the  class  whom 
I  am  addressing !  No  man  can  be  blind  to  the  whole- 
some restraints  which  are  imposed  on  vice,  in  a  city 
like  this,  nor  to  the  powerful  agencies  which  are  here 
originated  for  the  support  of  real  religion.  It  is  in  no 
small  measure  through  metropolitan  capital,  energy, 
intelligence,  and  piety,  that  the  mighty  conflict  with 
sin  is  carried  forward,  which  is,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  to  result  in  the  general  diffusion  of  Christianity. 
But  it  cannot,  on  the  other  hand,  be  denied,  that  a 
perfect  torrent  of  worldliness  is  perpetually  pouring 
itself  through  all  the  streets  and  marts  of  such  a  city. 
The  multitudes  have  their  eyes  fixed  not  on  heaven 
but  on  earth.  Their  employments,  their  conversation, 
the  motives  which  drive  them  on  in  the  fierce  race  of 
competition,  the  institutions  and  implements  of  com- 
merce, the  whole  network  of  their  daily  associations, 
are  secularizing  in  their  tendency.  And  when  you 
superadd  to  these  influences,  the  fascinating  amuse- 
ments and  gilded  vices  which  impregnate  the  atmos- 
phere with  their  grateful  but  deadly  malaria,  and 
infuse  a  new  and  most  effective  element  into  the 
reigning  levity  and  hardihood  of  the  crowd,  you  can- 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  13 

not  fail  to  see  what  imminent  peril  waits  upon  every 
young  man  who  places  himself  within  the  reach  of 
these  potent  seductions.  The  strong  impulse  of  those 
who  come  here  from  the  interior  especially,  and  are 
severed  from  their  homes,  must  be,  to  fall  in  with  the 
current  and  let  it  bear  them  where  it  will.  It  is 
natural  and  easy  to  do  as  others  do  around  us — to 
conform  to  the  popular  usages  and  fashions.  Men 
cease  to  be  nice  casuists  when  they  are  mixed  up  in  a 
crowd.  The  practical  verdict  of  the  multitude  super- 
sedes their  inquiries  into  the  right  and  wrong  of 
actions,  and  sweeps  away  their  scruples — or,  at  least 
sweeps  them  away,  even  though  their  scruples  re- 
main. The  motives  which  induce  this  passive  acqui- 
escence in  the  ways  of  the  majority,  may  be  com- 
mendable. It  may  spring  from  modesty,  or  from  a 
dread  of  singularity.  "  Who  am  I,  that  I  should  set 
myself  up  as  wiser  and  better  than  those  around  me? 
Why  am  I  called  upon  to  condemn  practices  and 
habits  which  have  the  sanction  of  so  many  older  and 
abler  men?  Can  that  be  wrong  which  has  so  general 
an  approval?  I  am  but  an  humble  individual;  can 
any  harm  result  from  my  living  as  other  people 
live?"  With  such  specious  sophistries  as  these,  3'oung 
men  too  often  persuade  themselves  to  barter  their  inde- 
pendence and  their  rectitude,  for  a  listless  and  un- 
worthy subserviency  to  the  opinions  of  their  neighbors. 
On  any  other  subject  they  might  dare  to  be  singular. 
On  questions  of  politics,  of  trade,  of  education,  of 
literature,  they  venture  not  only  to  think  for  them- 


14  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

selves,  but  to  utter  their  sentiments  with  manly 
freedom,  and  shape  their  conduct  accordingly.  But 
where  morals  and  religion  are  concerned,  they  are 
either  seized  with  a  timidity  which  makes  them  sup- 
press their  convictions,  or  paralyzed  by  an  apathy 
which  produces  a  servile  assent,  where  there  ought  to 
be  a  fearless  resistance.  If  we  could  cull  a  few  leaves 
from  the  private  journals  of  mercantile  life,  such  as 
as  are  filed  away,  not  in  the  pigeon-holes  of  an  escri- 
toir,  but  in  the  recesses  of  the  heart,  it  might  appear 
that  no  small  proportion  of  the  young  men  of  this 
class  have  brought  themselves  to  fall  in  with  one 
practice  and  another  of  the  commercial  Avorld,  only 
through  a  tedious  series  of  un  avowed  misgivings  and 
remonstrances;  while  many  others  have  been  content 
to  take  things  as  they  were,  without  inquiry  or  re- 
flection. It  cannot  be  disguised  that,  as  a  body,  their 
morals  are  exposed  to  more  or  less  danger  from  the 
preternatural  excitement  which  pervades  the  whole 
realm  of  commerce.  This  excitement  may  be  detected 
wherever  there  is  trafficking  on  a  large  scale ;  but  it 
has  its  foci  in  our  great  cities ;  and  these  young  men, 
like  the  angel  in  the  sun,  are  just  at  the  burning 
point.  Allowing  that  the  rivalries  and  conflicts  which 
occupy  them  are  of  a  generous  nature,  still  they  are 
a  crucible  to  character,  and  it  is  well  if  they  come  out 
of  them  unscathed.  In  the  customary  routine  of  their 
duties,  they  are  selling  goods  to  men  of  every  type, 
seeking  customers  at  their  hotels  for  the  houses  they 
represent,  carrying  on  a  large  correspondence,  taking 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  15 

long  and  hazardous  journeys,  repelling  what  they 
regard  as  calumniatory  statements  from  adverse 
sources,  sometimes  brought  into  immediate  collision 
with  the  agents  of  counter  interests,  and  tempted,  not 
unfrequently,  with  a  view  to  mere  mercantile  ends, 
to  accompany  strangers  to  places  of  vicious  amuse- 
ment;— and  it  Avere  a  marvel  if  their  principles 
should  suffer  no  damage  in  a  life  like  this.  Let  it  be 
recorded  to  the  lasting  honor  of  the  profession  to 
which  they  have  devoted  themselves,  that  amidst 
these  hostile  influences  there  are  constantly  moulding 
characters  of  noble  strength  and  symmetry;  and  that, 
in  the  aggregate,  they  maintain,  in  their  projDcr  sphere, 
the  high  reputation  of  the  commercial  class  for  candor 
and  probity.  Still,  there  are  disasters.  This  is  a 
coast  where  too  many  fine  barques  have  been  wrecked, 
and  too  many  shattered,  not  to  put  us  on  our  guard 
against  its  dangers.  How  these  can  be  eluded  or  sur- 
mounted must  be  a  question  of  absorbing  interest 
with  every  young  man  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits. It  is  a  question  quite  too  comprehensive  to  be 
answered  in  a  single  sermon.  A  few  suggestions 
must,  in  the  present  service,  supply  the  place  of  a 
formal  dissertation  on  this  subject. 

Nothing  effective  can  be  done  in  the  right  direction, 
until  a  young  man  awakes  to  his  personal  responsi- 
bility. So  long  as  we  move  in  a  crowd,  swayed  to 
and  fro  by  its  eddies — like  the  twig  entangled  in  a 
mass  of  rubbish  on  the  bosom  of  a  running  stream — 
we  cannot  but  miss  the  proper  end  of  our  being.    The 


16  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

servitude  of  caste  must  be  broken.  "We  must  think 
and  act  for  ourselves.  We  must  be  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  there  is  not  only  a  fitness  and 
an  unfitness,  an  expediency  and  an  inexpediency,  a 
beauty  and  a  deformity,  in  our  specific  actions  and  our 
general  plans  and  aims,  but  also  A  right  and  a  wrong  ; 
that  this  is,  beyond  all  comparison,  their  most  import- 
ant relation;  and  that  the  standard  by  which  it  is  to 
be  adjusted  is  not  usage,  but  the  law  of  God.  It  may 
very  well  happen  that  your  principles  and  life  are  in 
harmony  with  those  of  the  great  commercial  brother- 
hood to  which  you  belong,  and  that  they  justly  secure 
to  you  the  respect  and  confidence  commonly  awarded 
to  such  virtues  as  adorn  your  characters.  But  is 
there  not  another  tribunal  to  which  you  are  amena- 
ble? "With  me,"  says  the  apostle  Paul,  "it  is  a  very 
small  thing  that  I  should  be  judged  of  you,  or  of 
man's  judgment:  yea,  I  judge  not  mine  own  self  .  . 
but  he  that  judge th  me  is  the  Lord."  This  is  as  true 
of  each  one  of  us  as  it  was  of  Paul.  We  need  not 
disparage  the  opinions  of  our  fellow-men;  we  may, 
within  proper  limits,  court  their  approbation.  But  it 
is  a  fatal  error  to  confound  their  commendation  with 
the  Divine  sanction,  to  mistake  the  vox  ijopuli  for 
the  vox  Dei,  the  voice  of  the  people  for  the  voice  of 
God.  The  balances  in  which  motives  and  actions  are 
weighed,  are  hung  high  above  the  tumults  of  com- 
merce— beyond  the  reach  of  all  those  influences 
which  beguile  our  consciences  and  bias  our  judgments. 
And  he  alone  is  likely  to  go  on  in  the  path  of  recti- 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  1 1 

tudo,  with  an  unfaltering  step,  who  has  his  eye  stead- 
fastly fixed  on  them,  and  labors  to  poise  his  motives 
and  conduct  by  their  unerring  decisions. 

This  cannot  be  done  by  one  who  lives  only  in  the 
crowd.     It  is  indispensable,  if  we  would  attain  it,  that 

we   HAVE    OUR    SEASONS    OF    SELF-COMMUNION   AND    COM- 
MUNION WITH  God.     If  our  Saviour  found  it  needful 
to  retire  frequently  for  prayer,  how  essential   must 
secret  meditation  and  devotion  be  to  us !     The  very 
circumstance  of  withdrawing  for  this  j)urpose — the 
consciousness  of  being  alone  with  God — is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  foster  that  feeling  of  personal  responsibility 
of  which  we  have  just  spoken.     There,  in  that  soli- 
tary chamber,  the  noisy  world  shut  out,  the  tramp 
and  the  hum  of  the  crowd  heard  only  as  a  distant 
murmur,  the  cares  of  business  and  the  enticements  of 
sin  left  behind — there,  with  your  Bible  open  before 
you,  and  your  thoughts  going  up  to  the  throne  of  the 
Omniscient,  you  cannot  well  help  feeling  that  you 
have  an  existence  of  your  own,  an  individuality  which 
cannot  be  merged  in  the  activities  of  the  surrounding 
multitude,  but  which  is  as  complete  and  intransfera- 
ble  as  though  you  were  the  only  rational  tenant  of  the 
globe.     The  legitimate  effect  of  these  seasons  of  se- 
clusion is  to  restore  those  impressions  of  the  invisible 
and  the  spiritual,  which  continual  commerce  with  the 
world  tends  to  efface.     They  supply  us  with  a  new 
stand-point  from  which  to  survey  the  world  at  large, 
and  our  own  particular  relations  to  it.     You  must 
sometimes  have  noted  in  travelling,  how  different  are 


18  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

the  views  you  get  of  a  region  of  country,  as  you 
stand  upon  a  lofty  ridge,  and  retrace  your  route,  from 
those  which  beguiled  you  by  the  way.  And  the  dif- 
ference will  be  far  greater  in  the  estimates  you  form 
of  yourself  and  of  the  world  in  your  own  dormitory, 
with  the  Scriptures  for  your  guide,  as  compared  with 
those  which  have  engrossed  you  while  actually  pur- 
suing your  daily  avocations.  It  is  here  you  will  be 
likely  to  get  a  fresh  sight  of  that  immutable  standard 
of  rigJit  and  wrong  which  is  so  often  obscured  or  dis- 
torted by  the  mists  of  passion  and  prejudice.  Here 
you  will  measure  yourself,  not  by  your  fellow-worms, 
but  by  the  perfect  Exemplar  proposed  to  us  in  the 
Gospel.  Here  you  will  detect  the  unworthy  motives 
of  some  of  your  actions  which  have  elicited  the  ap- 
plause of  your  friends,  and  be  led  to  see  that  you  have 
less  cause  to  be  exalted  before  men,  than  you  have  to 
be  abased  before  God.  Here,  in  a  word,  you  will  have 
those  momentous  themes  presented  to  you  which  we 
are  all  so  apt  to  lose  sight  of,  and  a  due  appreciation 
of  which  is  essential  both  to  our  present  comfort  and 
our  eternal  well-being.  Whatever  is  neglected,  then, 
let  provision  be  made  in  the  adjustment  of  your  time, 
for  a  daily  season  of  devotion. 

From  private  to  public  devotion,  the  transition  is 
easy  and  natural.  Look  again  at  your  position.  Im- 
mortal, accountable,  and  dying  creatures,  you  are 
placed  in  circumstances  where  you  are  in  imminent 
danger  of  being  overwhelmed  by  the  torrent  of  secu- 
larity  which  breaks  upon  you  with  all  its  force  during 


ENGAGED  IN  3IERGANTILE  BUSINESS.  19 

six  days  of  every  week.  Duty,  interest,  happiness, 
your  everlasting  salvation,  are  all  involved  in  your 
escaping  or  repelling  it.  What  are  you  to  do  ?  To 
breast  it  in  your  own  strength  would  be  like  attempt- 
ing to  breast  the  rapids  of  the  Niagara,  and  must  lead 
to  a  similar  catastrophe.  But  our  heavenly  Father 
has  not  left  us  to  so  hard  a  fate.  He  has  offered  us 
his  own  Almighty  arm  for  a  support,  and  taught  us 
how  to  avail  ourselves  of  it.  Pre-eminent  among  his 
merciful  arrangements  for  this  end,  stands  the  Christ- 
ian Sabbath — an  institution  so  fraught  with  blessings 
of  every  kind,  that  to  contemn  it  would  argue  a  mind 
dead  to  all  sense  of  gratitude,  and  to  all  proper  con- 
sideration for  the  improvement  of  the  race.  In  your 
situation,  the  Sabbath  has  a  value  which  no  words 
can  express.  It  comes  to  you  with  its  sweet  repose, 
to  refresh  you  from  your  toil  and  weariness.  It  comes 
to  turn  the  current  of  your  associations;  to  repeat  for 
you  the  miracle  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  roll  back,  for  a 
few  hours,  the  swelUng  tide  which  threatens  to  sub- 
merge you;  to  take  you  out  of  the  beaten  track  in 
which  you  are  treading  your  ceaseless  rounds,  and 
open  to  you  the  green  pastures  and  still  waters  of 
paradise;  to  change  the  scene  for  you  from  ware- 
houses and  customers,  merchandize  and  trafficking,  to 
the  house  of  God,  the  reverence  and  the  solemnity  of 
a  worshipping  assembly,  the  songs  of  Zion,  and  the 
sublime  themes  of  revelation.  An  alternation  like  this 
is  invaluable,  in  a  mere  intellectual  view.  The  mind 
dwarfs  and  rusts  if  it  is  kept  to  a  stereotype  routine 


20  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

of  functions.  To  give  breadth  and  comprehension  to 
its  powers,  the  subjects  on  which  they  are  employed 
must  be  diversified.  It  were  better  to  change  some- 
times to  trifling  objects,  than  not  to  change  at  alL 
And  if  this  principle  be  sound,  the  advantage,  simply 
in  the  way  of  mental  culture,  must  be  incalculable, 
when  the  subjects  presented  for  consideration  are  at 
once  the  most  majestic  and  the  most  urgent  which  can 
engage  the  attention  of  rational  beings.  The  time 
forbids  me  to  go  into  this  inquiry  now,  but  the  fact 
must  be  apparent  to  every  hearer,  that  you  render  an 
individual  a  most  useful  service,  aside  from  any  moral 
benefit  he  may  receive,  when  you  replace,  even  for  an 
hour  or  two,  the  mass  of  earthliness  which  fills  his 
heart  and  monopolizes  his  faculties  from  day  to  day, 
with  ideas  of  God  and  eternity,  the  soul  and  its  des- 
tiny, redemption  and  perdition.  You  startle  him  from 
his  torpor.  You  wake  up  his  powers.  You  open  to 
him  a  new  creation.  You  send  ofi*  his  thoughts  into 
regions  he  had  scarcely  dreamed  of.  You  enlarge  the 
grasp  of  his  faculties,  and  qualify  him  to  pass  with  a 
discrimination  and  an  acuteness  previously  undevel- 
oped, upon  the  common  pursuits  and  familiar  topics 
of  life.  So  true  is  it,  that  "  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom,"  even  taking  "  wisdom"  in 
its  lowest  signification. 

But  the  Sabbath  has  a  much  stronger  claim  upon 
you  than  this,  and  it  is  insisted  upon  here  because  this 
is  precisely  the  pivot  upon  which  the  career  of  thou- 
sands of  clerks  in  our  cities  hinges.      Tlie  Sahhath  is 


ENGAGED  IX  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  21 

the  point  in  their  history  at  which  the  road  forhs;  one 
track  leading  on  to  honor,  success,  and  usefulness ;  the 
other  to  ultimate  ruin,  and  frequently  to  premature 
failure  and  disgrace.  If  you  consider  the  matter  (for 
I  can  do  little  more  than  state  the  fact),  you  will  find 
that  the  proper  observance  of  the  Sabbath  is  affiliated 
with  every  virtue  and  every  good  habit,  with  all  the 
agencies  which  are  favorable  to  self-improvement  and 
sohd  happiness,  and  all  those  which  go  to  prepare  men 
for  the  felicity  of  heaven ;  while  the  habitual  desecra- 
tion or  neglect  of  this  day  is  as  closely  interlaced  with 
the  evil  propensities  of  the  heart,  with  vicious  habits, 
and  with  those  pestiferous  influences  which  subvert 
men's  prmciples  and  destroy  their  souls.  The  profa- 
nation of  the  Sabbath  implies  a  want  of  reverence  for 
the  Divine  authority,  and  of  gratitude  for  the  Divine 
goodness,  which  is  itself  an  evil  omen.  There  is  a 
flaw  already  in  the  character  or  the  conscience  of  the 
man  who  can  permit  himself  to  invade  the  sanctity  of 
that  day  which  Jehovah  claims  as  his  own,  and  upon, 
which  He  has  impressed  his  image  and  superscription. 
This  denotes  an  absence  of  that  plenary  integrity-  to- 
wards God  which  is  the  best  guarantee  of  inflexible 
integrity  towards  man.  Honesty  may  co-exist  with 
irreligion  and  with  downright  infidelity.  But  its 
only  immutable  and  adequate  basis  is  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ.  A  merchant  who  looks  only  to  his  own  inter- 
est, and  who  is  as  indifierent  to  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  his  clerks  as  he  is  to  the  thrift  of  the  dray- 
horses  in  the  street,  would  nevertheless  pursue  a  wise 


22  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

policy  by  encouraging  them  to  a  faithful  observance 
of  the  Sabbath.  The  more  they  feel  their  obligations 
to  God,  the  more  conscientious  will  they  be  in  serving 
their  employer ;  for,  it  is  one  principle  which  puts  a 
man  upon  fearing  God,  and  upon  rendering  to  all  their 
dues — which  makes  one  loyal  to  heaven,  and  upright 
in  all  that  pertains  to  earth.  The  neglect  of  the  Sab- 
bath involves  a  disreputable  neglect  of  the  Bible.  It 
fosters  a  disrelish  for  serious  things.  It  blunts  the 
conscience.  It  promotes  indolence  and  instability.  It 
frequently  contributes  to  nourish  a  taste  for  demoral- 
izing books.  It  leads  to  bad  company — Sunday-drives 
— drinking — theatres — and  other  pernicious  recrea- 
tions. It  laj'-s  men  open  to  the  subtle  approaches  of 
skeptics  and  scoffers.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
removes  from  them  the  restraints,  and  deprives  them 
of  the  helps  which  we  all  require  in  our  warfare  with 
sin,  and  which  they  certainly  require  who  rush,  unbid- 
den, into  all  these  temptations,  A  volume  would 
scarcely  suffice  to  discuss  this  topic.  But  the  occasion 
precludes  my  doing  more  than  to  exhort  you  by  every 
motive  which  can  be  addressed  to  your  interest,  your 
duty,  or  your  desire  of  happiness,  to  guard  your  Sab- 
baths from  desecration.  God  has  given  you  this  day 
as  your  own ;  "  The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man."  The 
world  has  no  right  to  it.  Business  has  no  lien  upon 
it.  Friends  may  not  deprive  you  of  it.  He  has  bestow- 
ed it  upon  you  for  your  own  use  and  benefit;  and,  if 
your  eyes  are  not  holden,  you  will  see  that  it  is  a  more 
munificent  gift  than  if  he  had  made  you  a  grant  of 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  23 

all  the  ships  that  float  on  our  waters,  or  all  the  gold 
they  have  brought  here  for  coinage.  Dedicate  it  to 
its  high  and  holy  purposes — to  the  worship  of  God,  to 
your  preparation  for  eternity,  and  to  philanthropic 
labors  for  your  destitute  or  sufiering  fellow-creatures. 
Have  a  place  in  some  evangelical  Church — a  place 
which  shall  be  your  own.  This  will  make  you  feel 
like  occupying  it,  and  take  away  that  illusive  and 
fatal  pretext  which  keeps  so  many  young  men  from 
the  sanctuary,  that  they  "  have  no  place  to  go  to."  It 
will  do  more.  By  identifj'ing  yourselves  with  a  con- 
gregation, you  become  sharers  in  their  sympathies  and 
their  prayers.  You  participate,  more  or  less,  in  their 
spiritual  blessings.  The  very  relations  you  sustain 
towards  them  will  become  fresh  incentives  to  virtu- 
ous conduct.  You  w^ll  be  conscious  of  occupying  a 
more  conspicuous,  and,  I  may  add,  a  more  honorable 
position  in  the  community;  of  having  friendly  e^'es 
turned  upon  you,  and  friendly  expectations  cherished 
concerning  you ;  all  which  will  be  wholesome  props 
and  stimulants  in  the  race  of  life.  Above  all,  this 
will  bring  you  within  the  sound  of  the  Gospel.  It 
will  set  home  upon  your  consciences  at  stated  inter- 
vals, those  lessons  of  our  mortality  and  responsibility 
which  we  are  all  so  prone  to  forget,  keep  you  admon- 
ished that  it  is  your  duty  to  "  seek  first  the  kingdom 
of  God  and  his  righteousness,"  and  supply  you  with 
the  aids  essential  to  the  achievement  of  this  gi'eat  end. 
Let  nothing,  then,  prevent  you  from  attaching  your- 
selves, not  by  the  precarious  tie  of  caprice  or  fashion, 


24  SUGGESTIONS  TO  TOUNG  MEN 

but  by  the  firm  bond  of  principle  and  duty,  to  some 
evangelical  congregation. 

It   will   not   do,    however,   to   rest   here.      "The 
kingdom  of  God"  must  be  sought  until  it  is  found. 
By  nature  and  by  practice  we    are   alienated   from 
God,  and  rebels  against  him.     Our  prime  duty,  our 
most  urgent  necessity,  is  to  be  restored  to  his  favor, 
and  transformed  into  his  image.     We  must  be  par- 
doned through  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  renewed  by 
the  Divine  Spirit,  or  we  are  lost  forever.     We  require 
this,  as  already  intimated,  on  other  grounds.     It  were 
a  theme  well  worthy  of  your  attention — true  religion 
as  an  element  in  the  commercial  character — a  subject 
of  peculiar  interest,  and  happily  illustrated  in  nume- 
rous examples  around  us,  of  accomplished  merchants 
whose  lives  are  transfused  with  the  spirit  of  genuine 
piety.     It  would  be  a  grateful  office  to  trace  the  influ- 
ence of  a  steadfast  and  intelligent  faith  both  uj)on  the 
intellectual  and  the  moral  powers — to  see  how  it  ope- 
rates in  imparting  strength  and  symmetry  to  the  cha- 
racter— how  it  fosters  integrity,  prudence,  sagacity,  and 
industry — how  it  excites  to  the  cultivation  of  all  the 
faculties — how  it  represses  evil  tendencies  and  wards 
off  temptations — and  how  it  inspires  general  respect 
and   confidence.      These  are   important   bearings   of 
personal  religion  as  regards  mercantile  character  and 
success.     But  we  have  no  time  to  consider  them  in 
detail. 

To  a  single  one  of  them  I  may  be  allowed  to  ad- 
vert briefly;   I  refer  to  the  temptations  incident  to 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  25 

your  peculiar  vocation.  What  these  are,  you  know 
a  great  deal  better  than  I  can  tell  you.  That  they 
are  neither  few  nor  small,  might  be  inferred  from  the 
sketches  already  given  of  your  general  mode  of  life. 
You  have  your  homes  in  those  great  establishments 
(conducted,  often,  let  it  be  said,  with  admirable  skill 
and  efficiency)  into  which  steamboats  and  railway 
trains  are  constantly  pouring  crowds  of  travellers. 
Imbued  with  a  becoming  zeal  for  the  success  of  your 
respective  houses,  you  adopt  all  honorable  measures 
to  extend  their  business.  Among  the  eager  and  shift- 
ing multitude  with  whom  you  are  thus  brought  in 
contact,  are  men  who  are  curious  to  see  the  sights  of 
the  city,  and  others  who  are  bent  on  amusements  and 
indulgences  which  the  small  towns  and  villages  they 
reside  in  do  not  supply.  Your  aid  is  invoked  as 
guides  and  companions — possibly,  sometimes,  tendered 
where  it  is  not  invoked.  You  will  not  thank  me, 
perhaps,  if  I  go  further.  But  how  can  I  do  you  good 
unless  I  tell  you  the  truth  ?  Let  me  remind  you, 
then,  that  this  very  process  has  brought  many  a 
promising  young  man  to  ruin.  It  too  often  conducts 
them  to  the  theatre,  and  other  places  of  vicious  amuse- 
ment. It  carries  them  out  on  Sunday  excursions. 
It  leads  to  drinking  and  card-playing.  It  makes 
them  acquainted  with  gamblers  and  profligates — the 
marauders  that  may  be  seen  at  almost  all  hours  of 
the  day,  lounging  about  some  of  the  most  conspicuous 
corners  in  our  city,  and  who,  if  tolerated,  will  en- 
trench themselves  in  the  hotels.     A  salesman  will 


26  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

vindicate  this  policy  to  his  own  conscience,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  designed  to  subserve  the  interests  of 
his  principals.  This  it  may  do  for  a  time,  and  in  a 
limited  degree;  but  it  seldom  works  well  in  the  end. 
Business  may  be  increased  at  too  large  a  cost.  Gun- 
cotton  was  at  first  hailed  as  a  Avonderful  achievement 
in  the  arts,  and  one  likely  to  be  of  high  public  utility. 
But  it  has  been  found  that  the  process  of  preparing 
it  is  attended  with  imminent  hazard  to  the  operatives, 
and  that  when  manufactured,  it  is  a  very  dangerous 
tenant;  the  risk  of  it  is  greater  than  its  value.  Cus- 
tom that  is  got  by  treating  and  frequenting  scenes  of 
dissipation,  is  very  like  gun-cotton.  It  jeopards 
health  and  character  to  get  it,  and  when  secured,  it 
is  very  apt  to  blow  up  and  scatter  your  property  to 
the  winds.'''  How  can  it  be  otherwise?  No  man 
can  be  an  eligible  customer,  who  is  not  a  man  of  cor- 
rect principles  and  habits.  If  he  lacks  this  requisite, 
the  larger  his  purchases  the  more  perilous  for  the 
house  that  sells  to  him.  What  reliance,  then,  can  be 
placed  upon  a  man  whose  morals  are  already  so  de- 
bauched that  he  spends  his  time  while  in  the  city,  in 
sensual  pleasures  ?  or  upon  one  of  so  little  intelligence 
and  energy,  that  a  bottle  of  wine  or  a  complimentary 

*  I  have  heard  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  influential  sales- 
men in  this  city,  say,  that  in  the  whole  course  of  his  experience,  he 
never  knew  a  customer  secured  by  the  course  alluded  to,  who  did  not 
prove,  in  the  end,  a  scourge  to  the  house  he  dealt  with.  It  is  well  that 
this  pernicious  practice  is  so  generally  frowned  upon  by  our  respectable 
merchants. 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  27 

visit  to  some  place  of  amusement,  will  control  him  in 
buying  his  goods  ?  It  is  suicidal  for  a  house  to  coun- 
tenance cunj  measure  which  may  tend  to  weaken  the 
moral  sense  of  a  customer,  or  foster  his  inferior  appe- 
tites. How  many  have  been  inoculated  in  our  Atlan- 
tic cities  with  the  fatal  virus  of  intemperance  or 
gambling,  who  have  gone  back  to  their  distant  homes 
and  indulged  these  propensities  for  a  while  in  secret, 
until  at  length,  after  a  few  more  visits  to  the  sea- 
board, they  have  been  mastered  by  their  evil  passions, 
and  ruined  in  health,  fortune,  and  character.  '•  Wealth 
gotten  by  vanity  shall  be  diminished."  There  is  a 
Providence  as  much  in  commerce  as  in  religion  :  and 
it  can  excite  no  surprise  in  a  reflecting  mind,  that  a 
traffic  which  it  has  corrupted  the  morals  of  clerks  and 
customers  to  gain,  should  sooner  or  later  entail  losses, 
if  not  dishonor,  on  all  concerned  in  it. 

Let  not  these  observations  be  misunderstood.  They 
involve  no  impeachment  of  the  mercantile  body,  as 
such.  The  character  of  this  profession,  whether  in 
the  city  or  the  country,  for  general  intelligence  and 
probity  is  beyond  reproach ;  as  is  the  reputation  of 
the  young  men,  as  a  class,  who  are  charged  with  the 
endless  subordinate  (or  in  one  sense  primary)  agen- 
cies in  the  world  of  trade.  But  no  profession  is  free 
from  unworthy  members.  And  even  if  there  were 
fewer  of  this  sort  than  there  are  eno:aGred  in  mercan- 
tile  pursuits,  your  situation  would  still  be  one  to  de- 
mand for  you  the  restraints  and  safeguards  of  true 
religion.     Not  that  religion  would  infallibly  preserve 


28  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

you  either  from  error  or  sin.  But  you  would  be  far 
safer  with  it  than  you  can  be  without  it.  It  would 
hold  you  back  from  many  a  scene  of  peril,  and  blunt 
the  edge  of  many  an  enticement  to  evil.  It  would 
come  to  the  help  of  your  good  purposes  when  borne 
down  by  a  formidable  array  of  numbers,  or  giving 
way  under  some  sudden  temptation.  It  would  es- 
tablish your  moral  jDrinciples  on  a  solid  basis,  and 
insure  you  those  Divine  succors,  without  which,  all 
our  strength  is  weakness,  and  our  wisdom,  folly. 

But  there  is  the  still  weightier  consideration  to  be 
pondered  by  you  already  mentioned.  The  one  great 
alternative  demands  our  care,  "Except  ye  repent,  ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish" — repentance  or  perdition. 
Here  is  a  sufficient,  an  unanswerable  argument  why 
you  should  all  "'  seek  the  kingdom  of  God"  without 
delay,  viz.,  that  this  is  the  only  way  in  which  you 
can  be  prepared  for  death  and  eternity.  Some  of 
you  have  had  this  argument  presented  to  you  lately 
with  a  solemnity  and  a  tenderness  which  the  pulpit 
cannot  emulate.  Who  that  stood  by  the  bed-side  of 
the  lamented  Sloan,  can  forget  his  testimony  !  There 
he  lay,  liis  manly  form  writhing  under  paroxisms  of 
intense  suffering,  and  his  generous  nature  pierced  with 
the  deeper  anguish  of  a  reclaiming  conscience,  and 
an  anticipated  judgment — there  he  lay,  lamenting 
with  bitter  sorrow  that  he  had  postponed  his  prepara- 
tion for  death  until  the  hand  of  death  was  upon  him. 
It  is  not  for  us  to  draw  aside  the  curtain  and  learn 
whether  those  anxious  prayers  for  mercy  which  en- 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  29 

gaged  so  large  a  portion  of  the  last  fortj-eiglit  hours 
of  his  life,  received  a  gracious  answer.     V^e  may  hope 
that   they   did.      We   may   cherish   the   alleviating 
thought  that  the  confidence  he  expressed  was  well 
grounded,  a  confidence  reposing  not  on  his  own  works 
or    merits,   which    he    so    emphatically    disclaimed, 
but   wholly  on   the  true  foundation,   the  righteous- 
ness of  Christ.     This   will   not  abate   the   force  of 
his   admissions,  or  the  urgency  of  his  appeals.     It 
was   his   dying   testimony,   that  it  is   most  unwise 
to   neglect  the  claims  of  religion  in  the  season  of 
health.     It  was  his  earnest  and  affectionate  admoni- 
tion to  some  of  his  kind  and  sympathizing  friends, 
"  See  that  you  do  not  defer  your  preparation,  as  I 
have  done,  until  you  are  laid   upon   a  death-bed." 
What  can  I  add  to  this  ?     If  we  could  revoke  hitn 
from  yonder  cemetery,  if  we  could  call  back  his  im- 
mortal spirit  from  the  unseen  world,  and  he  could 
stand  for  a  brief  space  where  I  stand,  and  you  could 
hear  again  the  tones  of  that  familiar  voice,  think  you 
he  would  cancel  the  confessions  and  expostulations  of 
his   death-scene?      You   cannot   believe  this.      You 
cannot  doubt  that  with  the  experience  he  has  now 
had  of  the  eternal  world,  he  would  plead  with  you, 
trumpet-ton gued,  to  be   reconciled  to  God;  that  he 
would  warn  3'ou  against  all  delays ;  and  entreat  you 
with  tears  to  "  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God."     Do 
you  not  owe  it  to  his  memory,  as  well  as  to  your- 
selves, to  heed  this  counsel  ? 


30  SUGGESTIONS  TO  YOUNG  MEN 

"Smitten  friends 
Are  angels  sent  on  errands  full  of  love  ; 
For  us  they  languish  and  for  us  they  die : 
And  shall  they  languish,  shall  they  die,  in  vain  ? 
Ungrateful,  shall  we  grieve  their  hovering  shades, 
Which  VF.ait  the  revolution  in  our  hearts  ? 
Shall  we  disdain  their  silent,  soft  address; 
Their  posthumous  advice  and  pious  prayer; 
Senseless,  as  herds  that  graze  their  hallow'd  graves, 
Tread  under  foot  their  agonies  and  groans  ; 
Frustrate  their  anguish,  and  destroy  their  deaths?" 

Under  any  circumstances  an  appeal  from  an  indi- 
vidual who  is  just  passing  into  eternity,  must  be 
regarded  with  seriousness.  But  in  this  case  it  derives 
great  force  and  solemnity  from  the  character  of  the 
man.  It  is  no  barren,  posthumous  compliment,  when 
it  is  stated,  that  he  was  a  man  of  generous  impulses 
and  untarnished  honor,  one  who  scorned  all  meanness 
and  chicanery,  and  who  would  rather  do  no  business 
at  all,  than  not  do  it  on  principles  of  straightforward 
honesty.*     Here,  in  the  judgment  of  very  many  in- 

*  Mr.  Sloan's  disposition  may  be  inferred  from  an  anecdote  which 
I  have  received  on  unquestionable  authority.  Before  he  came  to  this 
city  to  reside,  he  had  been  in  business  in  Tennessee.  Ilis  property 
was  entirely  absorbed  in  discharging  the  liabilities  contracted  by  the 
firm  of  which  he  was  a  member.  He  went  out  several  months  since  to 
collect  some  money  from  a  person  who  was  largely  in  debt  to  him,  and 
returned  without  it.  "  Why  did  you  not  get  your  money?"  said  a  friend 
to  him.  "  Because,"  he  replied,  "I  went  to  the  house,  and  found  them 
all  packed  up,  just  about  removing  to  Texas.  And  when  I  looked  at 
his  wife  and  little  children,  and  considered  that  if  I  insisted  upon  my 
claim,  it  might  be  taking  the  bread  out  of  their  mouths,  and  breaking 
up  their  plans,  I  couldn't  do  it.  I  chose  rather  to  lose  the  money  my- 
self; and  so  I  turned  about  and  came  back  without  even  mentioning 
the  subject  to  him." 


ENGAGED  IN  MERCANTILE  BUSINESS.  31 

telligent  persons,  he  had  an  adequate  foundation  to 
rest  upon  :  "  If  virtues  hke  these  do  not  insure  salva- 
tion, who  can  hope  to  be  saved  ?"  And  yet,  when  the 
hour  of  trial  came,  Sloan  did  not  feel  that  he  could 
trust  to  this  foundation.  He  well  knew  that  his 
character  was  about  to  be  subjected  to  the  scrutiny 
of  that  immaculate  Being  in  whose  sight  the  very 
heavens  are  not  clean,  and  that  the  graceful  qualities 
which  had  procured  him  the  esteem  of  his  fellow-men, 
might  prove  a  very  insufficient  equipment  to  fit  him 
for  the  presence  of  a  holy  God.  His  testimony  on 
this  vital  point,  corroborated  as  it  is  by  the  whole 
tenor  of  Scripture,  may  well  put  you  upon  a  careful 
examination  of  your  principles.  If  he  could  not  trust 
to  his  morality,  can  3^ou?  If,  when  the  icy  fingers  of 
death  came  to  grasp  his  hope,  it  shrivelled  and  van- 
ished, what  will  become  of  yours?  If  he  found  it 
needful  to  fly  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling  and  the 
righteousness  of  Christ  for  pardon,  how  can  tou 
escape  if  you  neglect  this  great  salvation  ?  May  that 
Almighty  Spirit  whose  succor  he  so  anxiously  im- 
plored, seal  upon  your  hearts  his  dying  counsels,  and 
lead  you  all  to  the  Lamlj  of  God  who  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world ! 


A   WORD   OF   FRIENDLY   COUNSEL  TO  YOUNG  MEN. 


A  SEEMON 


DEATH  OF  GEORGE  M.  RAMSAUR, 

OF   NORTH   CAROLINA, 


DELIVERED  IN  THE 


TENTH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA. 


ON  SABBATH  EVENING,  FEB.  24,  1856. 


BY 


HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

HAYES    &    ZELL,    PUBLISHERS, 

193    MARKET    STREET. 
185  6. 


C.    SHERMAN    &    SON,    PRINTERS, 

19  St.  James  Street. 


CORRESPOI^DENCE. 


Philadelphia,  Feb.  26th,  1856. 

Kev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  D.D. 

Dear  Sir  :  The  undersigned  were  a  portion  of  tlie  very  large  con- 
gregation who  listened  to  your  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  George  M. 
Ramsaur.  Believing  that  it  would  be  a  source  of  consolation  to  his 
bereaved  relatives,  and  that  its  general  circulation  could  not  but  be 
attended  with  good,  they  respectfully  solicit  a  copy  for  the  purpose  of 
publishing  it  in  pamphlet  form. 

They  also  embrace  the  occasion  to  return  you  their  cordial  thanks 
for  an  effort  so  kind  and  well  directed. 

Very  truly  yours,  &c., 

Daniel  M.  Zimmerman,     A.  T.  Lane, 


J.  S.  Cummings, 
David  Faust, 
R.  B.  Fulenwider, 
S.  C.  Hayes, 
George  X.  Allen, 
Samuel  Stevenson, 
David  S.  Winebrener, 
George  H.  Roberts, 
R.  H.  Campbell, 
W.  L.  Springs, 
T.  Ellwood  Zell, 
Edward  T.  IMott, 
Jesse  Lee, 
Peter  T.  Wright, 


Alfred  Nesmitii, 
John  M.  Wilfong, 
Wm.  Mack  Haynes, 
E.  G.  Elkinton, 
Wm.  M.  Carter, 
John  M.  Richardson, 
Thomas  Seagle, 
Augustus  Landis, 
M.  J.  Moore, 
D.  Jackson  Justice, 
Charles  W.  Wright, 
S.  W.  Arnold, 
Francis  Squire. 


Philadelphia,  Feb.  2Stli,  185G. 

Gentlemen  : 

As  the  Sermon  on  the  Death  of  poor  Ramsaur  was  preached  at 
your  special  request,  I  feel  that  the  manuscript  properly  belongs  to 
you. 

The  sad  event  appears  to  have  awakened  a  great  deal  of  sympathy 
even  in  this  community,  where  he  was  so  much  a  stranger.  I  shall 
be  happy  if  my  Discourse  may  serve  in  any  degree  to  alleviate  the 
sorrow  of  his  afflicted  relatives,  or  to  impress  upon  the  YOUNG  men 
whom  you  represent,  the  affecting  lessons  of  his  death. 
I  am  sincerely, 

and  faithfully  yours, 

HENEY  A.  BOARDMAN. 
Messrs.  D.  M.  Zimmerman, 
j.  s.  cummings, 
David  Faust, 
Alfred  Nesmith,  and  Others. 


.  s  E  :r  M  0  N. 


"'XOW  M'HEX  HE  CAME  XIGH  TO  THE  GATE  OF  THE  CITY,  BEHOLD  THERE 
WAS  A  DEAD  MAX  CARRIED  OUT,  THE  OXLY  SOX  OF  HIS  MOTHER,  AXD  SHE 
WAS    A   WIDOW." 

LUKE    7  :  12. 

On  last  Wednesday  fortnight  two  gentlemen  called 
upon  me  to  ask  me' to  go  and  visit  a  young  man,  a 
friend  of  theirs,  about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  who 
was  dangerously  ill.  I  followed  them  to  his  boarding- 
house.  On  entering  the  room,  a  single  glance  sufficed 
to  show  that  the  sands  of  life  were  ebbing  fast,  and 
that  the  scene  must  soon  be  over.  His  three  skilful 
physicians,  one  of  whom  was  then  with  him,  felt  that 
the  disease  was  beyond  their  reach.  Indeed,  his 
athletic  frame  was  already  racked  with  convulsive 
throes,  which  revealed  the  presence  of  the  last  great 
enemy;  and  his  excited,  terror-stricken  countenance 
disclosed  but  too  well  the  anxiety  which  reigned 
within.  It  was  one  of  those  emergencies  in  which 
man  is  made  to  feel  his  utter  impotence.  There  was 
no  place  for  mere  human  words  even  of  sympathy. 
My  simple  and  only  mission  was  to  preach  to  him 


"Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified."  I  tried  to  point 
him  to  the  "  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world."  I  reminded  him  that  "even  while  we 
were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us ;"  that  "  it  was  a 
faithful  saying  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  even 
the  chief;"  that  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth 
us  from  all  sin  f  and  that  the  Saviour  had  said,  "  Him 
that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  He 
assured  me  of  his  firm  belief  of  these  precious  truths, 
and  of  all  that  the  Bible  contains.  He  spoke  with 
emotion  of  his  having  been  reared  in  the  bosom  of  a 
Christian  family,  with  the  advantages  of  a  religious 
education.  He  expressed  his  sorrow  that  he  had 
neglected  to  improve  these  advantages  as  he  ought, 
and  had  put  off  attending  to  the  concerns  of  his  soul 
to  a  dying  hour.  But,  in  answer  to  my  inquiries,  he 
replied,  that  he  did  now  desire  to  put  all  his  trust  in 
the  Redeemer,  and  that  he  felt  that  he  could  and  did 
rely  upon  Him,  and  commit  himself  into  His  hands 
for  salvation.  We  knelt  down  around  his  bed,  and 
commended  him  to  the  mercy  and  grace  of  God,  im- 
ploring Him  to  send  the  Divine  Spirit  to  renew  his 
heart,  and  to  enable  him  to  trust  in  that  Saviour  who 
had  died  to  take  away  the  sting  of  death.  Other 
prayers  had  been  offered  at  his  bedside  by  a  Christian 
friend,  who  has  kindly  furnished  me  with  the  follow- 
ing memorandum  of  his  interview  with  him : 

"  He  intimated  that  he  would  like  to  have  some 


conversation  on  the  subject  of  religion.  At  liis  re- 
quest, communicated  by  a  friend,  I  was  alone  with 
him  for  some  time  in  conversation  and  prayer. 

"  As  I  entered  the  room,  he  commenced  the  conver- 
sation, with  much  agitation  of  mind,  by  saying,  ^I  feel 
that  I  am  a  great  sinner.'  '•  0  Lord,  have  mercy  upon 
me !'  This  last  exclamation  he  made  use  of  several 
times,  both  whilst  I  was  speaking  to  him,  and  also  when 
in  prayer.  I  encouraged  him  to  believe  that  if  he  sin- 
cerely repented  of  the  sins  of  his  past  life  there  was 
peace  and  pardon  for  him,  and  if  he  felt  himself  to  be 
a  great  sinner,  there  was  also  a  great  Saviour  provided 
for  him. 

"  I  cited  to  him,  the  best  way  I  could,  '  the  thief  on 
the  cross/  the  ^  prodigal  son,'  ^  the  jailer/  and  the  case 
of  the  ^  publican'  in  the  temple. 

"  In  answer  to  a  question,  he  expressed  great  regret 
that  he  had  not  attended  to  the  subject  of  religion  as 
a  matter  of  personal  concern  at  an  earlier  period. 

"  He  spoke  of  his  pious  mother  with  much  emphasis 
and  emotion,  and  appeared  to  be  troubled  with  the  idea 
of  the  distress  which  the  intelligence  of  his  death 
would  occasion  her." 

Both  before  and  after  these  interviews,  he  was  re- 
peatedly heard  pouring  out  his  soul  in  earnest  suppli- 
cation to  God.  I  returned  to  him  in  the  afternoon, 
but  he  was  too  far  gone  to  carry  on  any  intelligible 
conversation.  Once  more  we  knelt  around  him,  and 
prayed  that  he  might  be  washed  in  the  blood  of  atone- 


ment,  and  that  in  this,  his  hour  of  extremity,  his 
Moiliers  God  might  be  his  God.  Shortly  after  the 
flickering  lamp  of  life  went  out. 

A  day  or  two  elapsed,  and  a  highly  respectable 
company  of  our  merchants  and  clerks  assembled  in 
that  house  to  celebrate  his  obsequies.  He  had  come 
here  from  his  home  in  Lincolnton,  North  Carolina, 
only  a  short  time  before,  to  engage  in  mercantile 
business.  On  approaching  Baltimore,  the  steamer  was 
arrested  by  the  ice  at  a  great  distance  below  the  city. 
In  walking  to  the  shore,  a  poor,  friendless  man  fell 
through  the  ice  into  the  water.  No  one  seeming  to 
care  for  him,  with  characteristic  generosity  he  took  off 
his  shawl,  and  wrapped  it  around  the  unfortunate 
traveller.  This  exposure,  it  is  believed,  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  cold  which  ultimately  terminated  his 
life. 

It  was  no  strange  thing  that  the  funeral  occasion 
should  have  been  marked  by  unusual  manifestations 
of  sympathy.  Every  one  present  felt  how  sad  a  thing 
it  was  for  a  young  man  like  him,  who  seemed  to  carry 
health  and  vigor  in  every  limb  and  feature,  to  be  cut 
down  with  only  a  week's  illness,  and,  especially,  how 
sorrowful  to  die  among  strangers.  And  every  one's 
thoughts  were  busied  with  that  happy  family  circle  in 
North  Carolina,  so  unconscious  of  the  scene  which  was 
passing  here.  Eyes  unused  to  weeping  were  suffused 
with  tears — with  tears  both  for  the  living  and  the 
dead.     And  man}'  hearts  united  in  the  prayer  which 


9 


commended  that  bereaved  mother  and  her  children  to 
the  God  of  all  grace  and  consolation. 

It  was  a  cheerless  day  when  we  conveyed  his  re- 
mains to  their  resting-place.  And  as  the  wintry 
snows  fell  upon  his  grave,  we  thought  of  the  still 
deeper  desolation  which  must  soon  spread  itself  over 
that  stricken  household.  One  consolation  we  had,  as 
we  have  still.  Although  earth  cannot  heal  their 
wounds,  there  is  "  balm  in  Gilead,  and  a  Physician 
there."  He  who  has  wounded,  can  heal  them.  He 
who  has  given  them  this  cup  of  sorrow  to  drink,  can 
enable  them  to  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 

Sach  was  the  end  of  George  Ramsaur.  His  per- 
sonal friends  and  associates,  who  h^d  a  warm  appre- 
ciation of  his  virtues,  have  requested  me  to  pay  some 
public  tribute  to  his  memory.  In  so  far  as  the  request 
may  have  contemplated  a  delineation  of  his  character 
and  life,  I  cannot  comply  with  it.  In  the  melancholy 
narration  to  which  you  have  just  listened,  you  have 
the  entire  record  of  my  acquaintance  with  him ; 
although  1  am  well  apprised  of  the  honorable  social 
position,  and  the  moral  worth,  of  the  family  to  which 
he  belonged.  But  there  is  another,  and  better  memo- 
rial I  can  rear  to  him.  I  can,  in  some  humble  way, 
improve  his  death  for  the  benefit  of  the  living.  This, 
I  am  persuaded,  is  the  tribute  which,  of  all  others,  he 
would  desire,  were  it  possible  for  his  spirit  to  revisit 
our  world :  it  is  certainly  the  office  to  which  the  affect- 
ing circumstances  of  his  death  point  me,  with  a  direct- 


10 


ness  which  cannot  be  mistaken.  Being  dead,  he  yet 
speaketh;  and  the  one  momentous  lesson  which  he 
urges  upon  the  living,  and  especially  upon  the  young 
MEN  in  the  midst  of  us,  is,  that  they  give  their  instant, 

EARNEST,  PARAMOUNT  ATTENTION  TO  THE  SUBJECT  OF  PER- 
SONAL RELIGION. 

It  were  a  curious  inquiry,  could  we,  by  any  process, 
detect  and  analyze  the  emotions  which  an  announce- 
ment like  this  must  excite  in  the  breasts  of  a  large 
assemblage  of  young  men.  "  Personal  Religion !" 
There  must  be  many  here  who  listen  to  this  phrase 
with  the  reverence  and  the  candor  which  are  the 
natural  fruit  of  a  Christian  training,  and  who  secretly 
wish  that  so  great  a  blessing  were  their  own.  To 
others,  again,  brought  up  with  fewer  advantages,  and 
quite  unskilled  in  even  the  simpler  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  expression,  "Personal  Religion,"  con- 
veys no  very  intelligible  ideas,  but  merely  a  vague 
notion  of  "  being  good."  While  a  third  class,  possibly, 
tinctured  with  skeptical  doubts,  repel  any  attempt  to 
press  the  claims  of  religion  upon  tliem  as  a  personal 
matter,  with  a  feeling  bordering  upon  contempt. 

We  shall  not  err  if  we  assume  that  this  latter  feel- 
ing, or  something  akin  to  it,  is  widely  prevalent  among 
the  young  men  of  our  day,  particularly  those  belong- 
ing to  the  educated  classes.  Their  studies  have  made 
them  familiar  with  the  names  of  Voltaire,  Gibbon, 
Hume,  and  other  champions  of  infidelity ;  or  they  have 
listened  to  the  specious  objections  against  the  Bible, 


11 


forged  in  the  laboratories  of  modern  science ;  and 
henceforth,  Christianity  is  to  be  with  them  a  myth 
and  a  fable, — a  scheme  of  faith  fit  only  for  women 
and  children.  It  might  be  worth  while  to  ask 
the  young  men  who  espouse  these  opinions  with  so 
rare  a  fxcility,  how  far  they  have  examined  the  system 
on  which  they  venture  to  pronounce  this  grave  con- 
demnation. Of  course,  in  dealing  with  a  volume  which 
claims  to  be  the  only  written  revelation  of  the  Divine 
will,  and,  as  such,  challenges  the  confidence  of  every 
human  being,  you  have  refused  it  your  homage  only 
after  the  most  careful  and  patient  investigation.  You 
have  read  every  page  of  it.  You  have  weighed  the 
arguments  in  support  of  its  authenticity  derived  from 
its  style,  its  originality,  the  harmony  of  its  several 
parts,  its  lofty  morality,  the  matchless  character  of 
the  personage  it  presents  to  us  as  the  Redeemer  of 
the  world,  its  prophecies,  its  miracles,  its  triumphs,  its 
consolations,  its  beneficent  effects  upon  society,  and 
the  salutary  changes  it  is  still  producing  before  our 
eyes,  in  the  moral  condition  of  individuals  and  of 
nations, — all  these  arguments  you  have  examined  with 
the  frankness  and  the  thoroughness  of  men  intent  only 
upon  ascertaining  the  truth.  And  having  exhausted 
this  ground,  you  have,  in  the  same  spirit,  dissected 
the  schemes  with  which  it  is  proposed  to  replace  the 
"exploded"  system  of  revelation.  You  have  gone  to 
the  Astronomer,  the  Geologist,  the  Anatomist,  the 
Ethnologist,   and  the  oracles  of  infidelity,  and  asked 


12 


them,  in  succession,  with  a  profound  conviction  of  the 
solemnity  of  the  inquiry,  "  If  I  discard  Christianity, 
whiii  S2(hstitute  can  you  furnish  me?  What  positive 
information  can  you  give  me,  concerning  the  Supreme 
Being,  my  own  relations  and  responsibilities  as  an 
accountable  creature,  the  destiny  which  awaits  me 
after  death,  and  the  possibility  of  a  reconciliation  with 
that  God  whom  I  am  cotiseious  of  having  offended  ?" 
Of  course,  you  have  taken  all  these  precautions  before 
severing  yourselves  from  the  common  faith  of  Christen- 
dom, and  enrolling  your  names  on  the  long  and  cheer- 
less catalogue  of  unbelievers? 

Alas,  for  the  integrity  and  fair  dealing  of  this  school 
of  philosophic  skepticism.  There  is,  probably,  not  one 
in  a  thousand  of  them  who  has  ever  read  the  Bible 
through,  or  who  has  explored  the  wide  range  of  its 
evidences  with  an  ingenuous,  truth-loving  spirit.  For 
the  most  part,  they  are  far  more  conversant  with  the 
attacks  upon  Christianity  than  with  its  "apologies;" 
credulous  in  listening  to  objections,  while  the  refuta- 
tions of  them  are  unnoticed ;  eager  in  embracing  the 
anti-Scriptural  deductions  of  some  embryo  science,  and 
impatient  of  the  barriers  which  genuine  science  and 
true  learnins;  have  reared  around  the  ark  of  the  cove- 
nant ;  in  a  word,  anxious  at  heart  to  have  Christianity 
proved  a  fraud,  and  as  disdainful  of  its  requisitions  as 
a  man  of  chivalric  principles  would  be,  if  asked  to. 
stoop  to  some  dishonorable  action. 

That  inquiries  prosecuted  in  this  spirit  should  lead 


13 


to  infidelity  is  unavoidable.  A  similar  spirit  would 
defeat  its  own  end  in  any  other  science.  Medicine, 
jurisprudence,  political  economy,  all  have  their  sciol- 
ists and  pretenders,  who  deal  with  principles  and 
facts  very  much  in  the  style  which  has  been  described ; 
but  they  soon  find  their  level.  It  is  only  in  theology, 
the  noblest  of  all  sciences,  that  this  rank  injustice  is 
tolerated.  The  Bible  is  the  only  book  which  the 
world  will  permit  to  be  condemned  without  a  hearing. 

Not  to  attempt  a  vindication  of  its  Divine  origin 
here  (which  would  divert  me  from  the  main  design  of 
this  discourse),  it  might  be  well  to  consider,  before 
you  discard  the  Bible,  what  3^ou  are  to  get  in  place  of 
it.  Unless  you  are  prepared  for  the  absurdities  of 
pantheism  or  of  annihilation,  you  must  be  looking  to 
a  conscious,  personal  existence  in  another  world. 
Shut  up  your  Bible,  and  ivhat  do  you  hioio  of  that 
tvorld  ?  What  do  you  know  of  God — of  yourself — of 
retribution — of  the  possibility  of  forgiveness?  You 
have  a  witness  within  your  bosom  which  tells  you 
that  you  are  a  sinner ;  but  what  does  conscience,  or 
reason,  or  the  light  of  nature,  reveal  concerning  the 
pardon  of  sin  and  future  happiness?  Nothing,  liter- 
ally nothing.  The  insatiate  craving  of  the  soul  for 
information  on  this  vital  question  '  is  met  only  by 
guesses  and  conjectures,  baseless,  illusive,  without 
authority,,  and,  therefore,  without  consolation. 

I  was  once  sojourning  at  a.  watering-place,  when 
there  came  there  an  aged  man,  who  had  retired  from 


14 


the  bench,  and  was  now  a  leading  politician  in  a  dis- 
tant state.  A  mortal  disease  had  laid  its  inexorable 
hand  upon  him,  and  his  friends  saw  that  his  days 
were  numbered.  They  pressed  him  to  see  some  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel,  but  he  steadfastly  refused — refused, 
I  presume,  with  cursing  and  oaths,  for  he  was  a  bitter 
infidel,  and  horribly  profane.  One  morning,  about 
four  or  five  o'clock,  a  servant  knocked  at  my  cabin 

door,  and  called  to  me  that  Judge desired  to  see 

me.  I  hastened  across  the  lawn  to  his  room,  and  the 
scene  which  ensued  was  so  appalling  that  I  shall  not 
venture  to  describe  it. 

.    .    .     "0  sight 
Of  terror,  foul  and  ugly  to  behold, 
Horrid  to  think,  how  horrible  to  feel  \" 

Suffice  it,  that  the  king  of  terrors  was  there  with  all 
his  hideous  retinue.  His  wretched  victim  quivered 
with  anguish  in  his  mighty  grasp,  and  seemed  already 
to  be  anticipating  the  scorpion-stings  of  the  second 
death.  And  thus,  after  four  or  five  hours  of  excruci- 
ating suffering,  his  sun  went  down  in  midnight  dark- 
ness. Before  we  committed  his  remains  to  their  rude 
and  lonely  grave,  in  a  field  too  desolate  for  any  sepul- 
ture but  one  like  this,  I  made  some  inquiry  of  the 
faithful  servant  who  had  waited  on  him  respecting  his 
conversation.  He  told  me — and  it  is  for  this  incident 
I  have  introduced  the  narrative  here — that  on  the 
day  before  his  death,  as  he  was  alone  with  him,  the 


15 


sick  man  said  to  Lira,  "  What  sort  of  a  icorld  is  that  to 
luhich  I  am  going  f" 

Will  the  young  men  before  me,  who  may  be  skepti- 
cally inclined,  do  themselves  the  justice  to  ponder  this 
utterance  ?  Here  was  a  man  of  education  and  ability, 
who  had  served  the  cause  of  infidelity  for,  perhaps, 
seventy  years.  And  now,  as  his  clay  tabernacle  is 
crumbling  to  ruins,  and  the  immortal  spirit  is  about  to 
be  driven  forth  into  another  state  of  being,  the  irre- 
pressible yearning  of  his  nature  triumphs  over  his 
towering  pride,  and  he  begs  a  poor  African  servant  to 
tell  him.  ^^  lohat  sort  of  a  ivorld  that  is  to  lohich  he  is 
going."  Here,  when  of  all  the  crises  of  his  life  he 
most  needs  a  guide,  his  oracle  is  mute.  It  has  con- 
ducted him  to  those  august  portals  which  divide  the 
visible  from  the  invisible  world.  In  another  moment, 
the  ponderous  gates  may  open  to  receive  him.  And, 
in  helpless  amazement  and  alarm,  he  cries,  "What  is 
beyond  r  "What  is  beyond  ?"  The  earth-born  philo- 
sophy to  which  he  has  confided  his  all,  answers  not  at 
all,  or  answers  with  a  sneer.  It  has  extinguished  the 
light  with  which  Christianity  irradiated  the  scene ; 
and  the  dim  taper  it  substituted  for  the  Sun  of  Righ- 
teousness, now  serves  only  to  make  the  gloom  of  eter- 
nity more  impenetrable. 

Why  should  it  be  expected  to  do  for  a  convert  like 
him  more  than  it  was  able  to  do  for  its  great  high 
priest,  Voltaire  ?  When  this  prince  of  scoffers  found 
his  end    approaching,   all  his  fortitude  forsook  him. 


16 


The  gorgeous  fabric  of  unbelief  which  it  had  cost  the 
mahgnant,  hypocritical  freethinker  fourscore  years  to 
rear,  death  pressed  with  but  a  single  icy  finger,  and  it 
shrank  as  Satan  did  when  touched  by  the  spear  of 
Ithuriel.  Sending  for  the  Abbe  Gauthier,  he  besought 
him  to  administer  to  him  the  rites  of  the  Church. 
His  friends  never  came  near  him,  but  to  witness  their 
own  shame.  "Sirs,"  he  said  to  them,  "it  is  you  who 
have  brought  me  to  my  present  state.  Begone;  I 
could  have  done  without  you  all."  He  was  alternately 
supplicating  and  blaspheming  God,  and  crying  out, 
"0  Christ!"  "0  Jesus  Christ!"  And  thus  the 
wretched  man  expired,  a  terror  to  all  around  him, 
and  an  immortal  witness  to  the  true  value  of  infidelity 
in  a  dying  hour. 

Other  witnesses  might  be  summoned ;  but  I  simply 
invoke  these  two  to  admonish  you,  that  before  you  let 
go  your  hold  of  Christianity,  it  may  be  well  to  con- 
sider iDliat  you  are  to  get  in  the  place  of  it. 

The  obvious  importance  of  this  topic  has  led  me  to 
enlarge  upon  it;  but  there  are  other  lessons  more  im- 
mediately suggested  by  the  sad  event  we  are  com- 
memorating. No  tinge  of  skepticism  defaced  the  fair 
reputation  of  George  Ramsaur.  His  unhappy  error 
lay  in  postponing  to  a  deathbed,  that  attention  to  the 
demands  of  religion,  which  he  had  acknowledged  to  be 
obligatory  and  needful.  And  this  is,  of  all  others,  the 
mistake  against  which  young  men  require  to  be 
guarded.     You  purpose  to  make  your  peace  with  God, 


17 


and  enter  upon  a  religious  life,  but  "  not  yet."  The 
intention  is  cherished  with  a  tenacity  which  never 
wavers :  the  duty  itself  is  remitted  to  an  uncertain 
future.  Could  we  pass  around  this  large  auditory  and 
propose  the  question,  seriatim,  to  every  young  man 
here,  •'  Is  it  your  design  to  give  your  personal  atten- 
tion to  religion?"  with  the  exception  of  those  who 
may  be  imbued  with  skeptical  opinions,  the  response 
would  probably  be  a  universal  affirmative.  But  were 
the  question  added,  "Are  you  willing  to  begin  noio?"' 
it  is  doubtful  whether  we  should  hear  a  single  prompt 
and  cordial,  "Aye." 

Various  hinderances  conspire  to  produce  this  result. 
You  are,'  possibly,  pursuing  a  career  of  dissipation, 
which  makes  you  revolt  at  the  idea  of  repentance  and 
reformation.  You  are  immersed  in  the  cares  of  busi- 
ness, and,  as  you  imagine,  have  "  no  time"  at  present 
to  bestow  upon  this  subject.  You  are  engrossed  with 
academical  or  professional  studies,  and  it  would  suit 
neither  your  taste  nor  your  convenience  to  attempt  to 
interweave  with  them,  that  serious  consideration  of 
the  claims  of  religion  which  could  alone  be  of  any 
avail.  You  have,  peradventure,  a  latent  apprehension 
that  to  "become  a  Christian,"  might  interfere  with 
plans  and  hopes  which  are  to  lead  you  on  to  fame  or 
fortune.  Or,  you  are  conscious  of  a  sentiment  which 
you  do  not  care  to  acknowledge  even  to  yourself,  but 
which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  shame  of  the 
Gospel, — a  feeling  that  it  is  somehow  "  unmanly''  to 

2 


18 


betray  any  solicitude  about  your  spiritual  well- 
being. 

It  would  require  rather  a  volume  than  a  sermon,  to 
do  justice  to  the  points  comprised  in  this  summary, 
and  others  affiliated  with  them.  But  let  two  or  three 
considerations  be  suggested,  which  lie  upon  the  surface 
of  the  subject. 

It  must  occur  even  to  the  most  superficial  thinker, 
that  in  assuming  the  attitude  just  defined,  you  are  but 
poorly  requiting  the  goodness  of  God  towards  you. 

I  speak  to  a  class  of  whom  it  is  eminently  charac- 
teristic, that  they  abhor  meanness  and  ingratitude. 
It  is  both  an  instinct  and  a  principle  with  you,  to 
honor  everything  in  human  conduct  which  savors  of 
disinterestedness  or  magnanimity.  There  is  not  a 
bosom  here  which  did  not  glow  with  admiration,  when 
you  were  told  how  poor  Ramsaur  took  off  his  shawl 
and  wrapped  it  around  the  unfortunate  stranger  who 
fell  through  the  ice.  And  had  that  stranger,  after 
availing  himself  of  this  generous  kindness,  treated  his 
benefactor  with  selfish  apathy  and  indifference,  you 
would  with  one  accord  have  cried  out  against  his 
baseness. 

But  what  has  God  done  ?  and  what  are  you  doing  ? 
I  stop  not  to  expatiate  on  the  relations  you  sustain  to 
Him  as  your  Creator  and  Preserver  ;  on  the  noble 
gifts  with  which  He  has  endowed  you ;  on  the  boun- 
ties His  munificent  hand  has  showered  upon  you,  from 
the  hour  of  your  birth  until  now ;  on  the  sources  of 


19 


rational  enjoyment  He  has  opened  to  you,  all  along 
the  pathway  of  life ;  on  the  motives  to  gratitude  and 
loyalty,  which  are  interlaced  with  the  entire  record  of 
His  providential  dispensations  towards  you,  down  to 
the  present  moment :  Let  all  this  pass.  But  turn 
your  eyes  to  Calvary.  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that 
He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us."  ^'  Even  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died 
for  us."  "He  bore  our  sins  and  carried  our  sorrows." 
"  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law, 
being  made  a  curse  for  us."  "  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  His  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  "  Who- 
soever will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely." 

You  have  heard  it  whispered,  that  Christianity  was 
rigorous  in  its  exactions,  and  that  the  God  of  the  Bible 
was  a  "  hard  Master."  Weigh  the  full  import  of  these 
utterances  (and  the  Scriptures  are  replete  with  them), 
and  say  whether  the  reproach  is  deserved.  Their 
"full  import,"  did  I  say?  That  were  impossible. 
There  are  depths  here  which  "  the  first  archangel" 
could  not  fathom.  But  if  any  spectacle  in  earth  or 
heaven  or  hell,  could  rebuke  the  unbelief  and  ingrati- 
tude of  the  human  heart,  it  must  be  that  which  the 
sacred  writers  describe  as  the  great  mystery  of  godli- 
ness, "God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  This  mysterious 
stranger,  who  traverses  the  hills  and  vales  of  Judea, 
attended  by  a  small  retinue  of  fishermen,  at  whose 


20 


word  the  palsied  arm  renews  its  vigor,  and  the  pallid 
cheek  blooms  with  the  glow  of  health,  and  the  raging 
waves  lie  down  in  unruffled  stillness,  and  the  fierce 
demoniac  becomes  a  little  child,  and  even  the  monster 
Death,  affrighted,  gives  back  his  victims,  is  no  other 
than  the  incarnate  Deity.  Touched  with  compassion 
for  our  race,  he  veiled  the  glories  of  the  Godhead  in  a 
mortal  form,  in  order  to  retrieve  the  ruins  of  the 
apostacy,  and  replace  the  crown  which  had  fallen  from 
our  heads,  and  re-establish  peace  between  earth  and 
heaven.  The  miracles  of  mercy  which  embellish  the 
thorny  path  he  is  treading;  the  sublime  teachings 
which  fall  from  His  lips ;  the  pure  example  in  which 
the  high  requisitions  of  the  moral  law  are 

"  Drawn  out  in  living  characters :" 

these  are  but  incidents  of  his  mission — the  draper}'' 
which  enfolds  and  adorns  the  grand  purpose  of  his  hu- 
miliation. "  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,"  is 
his  language,  "  and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accom- 
plished." His  errand  in  our  world  is  to  die — to  die  a 
malefactor's  death,  as  one  accursed.  His  eye  is  fixed  upon 
the  cross.  And  never  does  he  permit  himself  for  one 
moment  to  be  diverted  from  it.  There,  at  length,  he 
consummates  his  mission,  and  dies,  the  just  for  the  un- 
just, to  bring  us  to  God.  The  sins  of  his  people  are 
expiated.  The  immutable  principles  of  truth  and  recti- 
tude on  which  the  Divine  government  reposes,  have 
received  a  sublime  vindication.     Death  and  hell  are 


21 


vanquished.  Life  and  immortality  are  brought  to  light. 
The  Sun  of  Righteousness  arises  upon  our  dark  world 
with  healing  in  his  beams.  Angelic  hosts  come  down 
on  ministries  of  grace  to  the  heirs  of  salvation.  Messen- 
gers of  mercy  speed  their  way  from  continent  to  con- 
tinent, proclaiming  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the 
opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound. 
Through  all  the  abodes  of  crime,  and  suffering,  and 
sorrow,  there  resounds  the  strange,  unwonted  invita- 
tion, ••'Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters  I"  The  deadly  wound  of  humanity  is  stanched. 
The  weary  and  the  heavy-laden  find  rest.  Mourners 
dry  their  tears.  Aliens  and  outcasts  gather  around 
their  Father's  board.  Earth  begins  to  array  herself 
again  in  the  bloom  of  Eden.  Heaven  throws  wide 
open  its  doors  to  the  apostate  and  the  perishing. 
Around  the  sapphire  throne  myriads  of  ransomed  sin- 
ners, who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  sing  that  new  song, 
*•  L'xTO  Hi3i  THAT  LOVED  US !""  And  before  time  has 
finished  his  majestic  cycle,  other  myriads  shall  go  up 
from  our  sin-stricken  planet,  to  cast  their  crowns  at 
the  Saviour's  feet,  and  to  share  in  that  ••  exceeding 
and  eternal  weight  of  glory." 

To  the  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ  are  all  these 
wonders  to  be  ascribed.  Forgiveness,  and  renewal, 
and  salvation  are  the  purchase  of  his  sufferings.  It 
were  something  could  he  have  tendered  them  to  us  by 
a  simple  exertion  of  his  sovereignty.     But  invincible 


99 


obstacles  forbade  this.  An  atonement  was  indispensa- 
ble. And  in  his  boundless  love  and  clemency,  he 
came  down  and  died  that  we  might  live.  From  his 
cross  radiates  not  only  every  pencil  of  light  which 
illumines  the  path  to  heaven,  but  that  peculiar  reful- 
gence which  streams  through  all  the  aisles  of  the 
celestial  temples :  for  even  the  rapt  worshippers  in 
the  Holy  of  Holies  are  forever  reminded  of  the  cru- 
cifixion, by  the  presence  in  the  midst  of  the  throne, 
of  One  who  appears  "  as  a  Lamb  that  had  been  slain^ 
Surely  it  would  require  but  the  very  faintest  appre- 
ciation of  love  like  this,  to  enthrone  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
in  every  human  heart.  Were  it  not  that  some  deep- 
seated  malady  blinds  them  to  his  glorious  perfections, 
or  indisposes  them  to  all  fellowship  with  Him,  our 
YOUNG  MEN  would  be  seen  hastening  to  him  like  the 
Magi,  in  joyful  bands,  to  lay  their  honors  at  his  feet, 
and  to  enrol  themselves  among  his  disciples.  You 
would  scorn  to  treat  an  earthly  benefactor  as  you  treat 
Him.  The  withholding  of  your  homage  from  Him, 
can  be  no  trivial  sin.  But  this  is  a  small  part  of  the 
indignity  which  is  heaped  upon  Him.  It  were  some 
mitigation  of  the  offence,  if  the  veneration  which  is 
denied  him,  were  bestowed  upon  some  worthy  object. 
But  what  are  the  objects  which  you  permit  to  rival 
Him  in  your  esteem,  and  even  to  exclude  Him  from 
your  hearts  ?  Your  property,  your  amusements,  your 
self-indulgences,  the  gold  that  perisheth,  the  plaudits 
of  the  populace,  the    transient   mirth  that  leaves  a 


23 


sting  behind, — nothing  is  too  pitiful  or  too  sordid,  to 
be  allowed  to  arrogate  that  place  in  your  affections, 
which  belongs  to  Him  alone.  Every  secular  interest 
must  be  heeded ;  every  claim  of  earth  recognized ;  every 
human  benefactor  loaded  with  the  spontaneous  out- 
pourings of  a  thankful  heart.  But  when  you  turn  to 
Calvary,  you  seem  to  be  no  longer  susceptible  of  grati- 
tude. That  wondrous  spectacle  fails  to  impress  you 
even  as  a  pageant, — still  less  as  a  sublime  and  touching 
reality.  And  the  spot  where,  of  all  others  in  the  uni- 
verse, it  might  be  supposed  the  fountains  of  feeling  in 
your  breasts  would  be  broken  up,  and  your  souls  dis- 
solved in  penitential  joy,  is  the  very  spot  where  every 
generous  impulse  seems  to  congeal,  and  the  heart 
itself  turns  to  stone.  So  appalling  is  the  devastation 
which  sin  has  wrought  in  the  human  soul ;  and  so  in- 
dispensable that  radical  transformation  of  character,  of 
which  the  Saviour  himself  has  affirmed,  "  Except  a 
man  be  horn  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God." 

You  will  not  say,  there  is  not  one  among  you  who 
will  say,  that  the  Son  of  God  deserves  this  treatment. 
It  is  impossible  you  should  recall  the  leading  events 
of  His  life,  or  review  the  plan  of  redemption,  without 
feeling  astonished  and  selfcondemned  at  the  ingrati- 
tude which  has  so  long  rejected  Him.  Peradventure 
this  conviction  may  be  brought  home  to  your  minds 
with  so  much  vividness  at  this  moment,  that  you  are 
"  almost  persuaded"  to  open  your  hearts  to  Him,  and 


24 


cry  with  the  disciple,  "  My  Lord,  and  my  God  !"  Let 
me  endeavor  to  invigorate  this  feeling,  by  briefly  pre- 
senting the  subject  in  another  of  its  aspects. 

You  are  standing  at  the  threshold  of  life.  An  un- 
known expanse  spreads  itself  before  you,  and  you  are 
girding  yourselves  for  its  conflicts.  If  you  have  in 
any  wise  the  spirit  proper  to  your  position  and  rela- 
tions, there  must  be  moments  of  thoughtfulness,  when 
your  bosoms  are  agitated  with  the  question,  "  How  can 
I  make  the  most  of  life?  What  acquisitions  must  I 
seek,  what  plans  must  I  adopt,  in  order  to  insure  the 
best  possible  results  when  I  shall  come  at  last  to  sum 
up  the  issues  of  my  life?"  A  most  rational  and 
seasonable  inquiry,  and  one  which  well  deserves  your 
serious  consideration. 

In  answering  it,  you  will  doubtless  propose  to  your- 
selves certain  principles  and  habits  as  of  fundamental 
importance  in  every  sphere  of  life.  Among  these,  will 
be  integrity,  veracity,  intelligence,  industry,  decision, 
energy,  perseverance,  kindness  of  heart,  and  agreeable 
manners.  If  you  have  in  view  one  of  the  liberal  pro- 
fessions, you  will  justly  assign  a  conspicuous  place  to 
sound  learning,  sagacity,  large  powers  of  analysis  and 
generalization,  a  ready  memory,  a  facile  command  of 
your  resources,  a  generous  sympathy  with  misfortune, 
and  that  frankness  of  manner  which  inspires  respect 
and  confidence.  Portraying  to  yourselves  some  such 
equipment  as  this,  you  may,  not  improbably,  be  look- 
ing forward  to  the  distant  goals  around  which  your 


25 


hopes  and  aims  are  clustered.  As  physicians  or 
lawyers,  you  would  achieve  an  honorable  fame,  and 
inscribe  your  names  among  those  which  have  shed 
lustre  on  these  noble  professions.  As  statesmen,  you 
would  serve  your  country  with  ability  and  fidelity,  in 
any  sphere  to  which  she  might  see  fit  to  call  you. 
As  merchants,  you  would  seek  the  ample  rewards  of 
commerce,  but  only  through  the  practice  of  the  com- 
mercial virtues.  As  mechanics,  you  would  emulate 
the  fame  of  those  artisans  who  have  illuminated  the 
mills  and  workshops  of  the  world  with  the  triumphs 
of  genius,  and  restored  to  labor  something  of  that  dig- 
nity which  it  had  when  the  primeval  man  was  put 
into  a  garden  "  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it." 

Proceeding  a  step  further,  we  may  now  suppose 
that  these  several  ends  will  all  be  accomplished ;  that 
by  some  special  arrangement  of  Divine  Providence 
every  individual  among  you  is  assured  that  he  will,  in 
the  first  instance,  acquire  the  personal  qualifications 
he  has  proposed  to  himself;  and  then  that  by  a  faith- 
ful exercise  o!"  these,  he  will  certainly  attain  the 
object  upon  which  his  heart  is  set.  The  wealth,  the 
exalted  station,  the  renown,  the  well-earned  gratitude, 
the  general  adulation,  all  are  made  sure  to  you. 

Are  you  satisfied?  Does  a  scheme  of  life  like  this, 
even  when  its  absolute  success  is  guaranteed,  commend 
itself  to  your  sober  reason  ?  I  look  through  all  this 
array  of  graceful  accomplishments;  I  follow  you 
along  the  thronged  thoroughfares  which  witness  and 


26 


applaud  your  triumphs ;  I  see  you  at  length  crowned 
with  the  civic  or  the  martial  wreaths  for  which  you 
toiled,  or  glittering  with  the  paraphernalia  of  pomp 
and  luxury ;  but  nowhere  do  I  detect  the  presence  of 
a  God.  On  every  line  and  lineament  of  this  glowing 
spectacle — all  over  the  imposing  fabric  which  it  has 
been  the  one  grand  achievement  of  your  life  to  rear — 
there  is  the  brand  of  a  flagitious  Atheism.  The 
scheme  is  one  which  might  have  been  constructed  in 
a  pantheistic  universe.  It  has  its  entire  being — its 
centre  and  circumference — in  man.  The  moral  go- 
vernment of  God — human  responsibility — redemption 
— salvation — eternity — these  great  ideas  it  does  not 
once  recognise.  It  is  a  mere  earthwork,  of  loftier 
pretensions  and  higher  value,  it  may  be,  than  most 
earthworks,  but  still  made  of  the  clay  we  tread  upon, 
and  doomed  to  perish  whenever  the  earth  shall  be 
burned  up. 

Your  solution  of  that  profoundly  interesting  pro- 
blem, " Roiv  can  I  make  the  most  of  lifer  is  fatally 
wrong  in  the  very  first  step.  You  hat^e  omitted  one 
element  of  character,  without  which  angelic  powers 
perpetuated  through  the  endless  duration  of  an  angelic 
life,  could  neither  qualify  you  for  your  duties  nor  con- 
fer upon  you  solid  happiness.  Until  man  is  brought 
back  into  fellowship  with  his  Maker,  and  the  image  of 
God  renewed  upon  his  heart,  no  affluence  of  gifts  can 
redeem  his  character  from  its  essential  depravity,  no 
splendor  of  success  can  satisfy  his  thirst  for  happiness. 


27 


The  principle  your  characters  need — the  principle  they 
must  have,  or  sink  at  length,  under  the  pressure  of 
their  accumulated  corruptions,  into  hopeless  infamy 
and  wo — is  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Convinced 
of  sin,  and  penitent  for  sin,  and  anxious  to  be  freed 
from  the  curse  and  from  the  defilement  of  sin,  you 
must  come  and  cast  yourselves  upon  the  mercy  of  God 
in  Jesus  Christ  as  your  only  hope  and  refuge.  Once 
united  to  the  Saviour  by  that  Almighty  Spirit  whose 
gracious  office  it  is  to  renew  and  sanctify  the  heart, 
this  Divine  principle  will  impregnate  your  whole  cha- 
racters with  its  ameliorating  influence.  It  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  genuine  faith  to  be  a  controlling  and  most 
beneficent  power  in  the  human  soul.  You  require  it 
as  a  restraint  upon  your  capricious  tempers  and 
vagrant  passions,  and  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  fascina- 
tions of  sense  and  the  snares  of  sin.  You  require  it, 
to  harmonize  your  powers,  and  clothe  you  with  trae 
dignity  of  character.  You  require  it,  to  pierce  the 
veil  which  separates  time  from  eternity,  and  disclose 
to  you  the  relations  you  sustain  to  the  Supreme  Being, 
l^ou  require  it,  that  you  may  w^age  a  successful  war- 
fare with  sin,  that  you  may  enjoy  communion  with 
God,  and  take  hold  upon  His  strength,  and  grow  up 
into  His  image.  Y^ou  require  it,  that  you  may  dis- 
charge with  wisdom  and  fidelity  the  duties  proper  to 
your  several  professions  and  occupations,  and  that  you 
may  successfully  employ  your  various  powers  in  pro- 
moting the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  your  fellow- 


28 


creatures.  You  require  it,  that  you  may  have  an 
adequate  sohace  in  affliction,  and  a  sure  support  in 
death.  You  require  it,  that  you  may  be  accepted 
when  you  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ, 
and  be  allowed  to  enter  with  the  white-robed  throng 
into  the  holy  city. 

Here,  then,  is  the  true  answer  to  the  question, 
"  Hoiu  may  I  7nake  the  most  of  life  f  "  Believe  on 
THE  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Come  with  your  sins  and 
your  wants  to  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  Consecrate 
yourselves  to  Hm,  and  you  will  not  live  in  vain. 
Trust  in  his  atoning  sacrifice,  and  your  dying  hours 
will  not  be  haunted  with  the  dread  of  falling  into  the 
hands  of  an  angry  God.  Lean  upon  his  everlasting 
arm,  and  you  will  have  a  Friend  who  will  never  leave 
nor  forsake  you. 

What  is  your  decision  ?  Standing  here,  as  it  were, 
around  the  grave  of  George  Ramsaur,  I  press  the 
question  upon  your  consciences.  Will  you  put  your 
trust  in  the  "  Friend  of  Sinners,"  and  henceforth  own 
him  as  your  Lord  ? 

As  I  cast  my  eyes  around  this  house,  I  find  myself 
unable  to  repress  the  feeling,  "  What  elements  of  moral 
power  are  embosomed  in  this  crowded  assemblage  of 
YOUNG  MEN  ?"  The  buoyancy  of  youth,  the  vigor  of 
early  manhood,  intelligence,  indomitable  energy,  com- 
mercial tact,  professional  ambition,  ties  of  consangui- 
nity and  friendship  widely  reticulated  through  society. 


29 


and  the  noblest  field  ever  presented  for  the  exercise 
of  such  gifts, — what  results  might  not  be  expected  if 
you  should  rise  up  in  the  strength  of  Omnipotence, 
and  say,  as  one  man,  "Henceforth  we  live  for  God 
and  for  eternity  !"  It  were  not  extravagant  to  assert, 
that  a  purpose  thus  formed  in  this  house  to-night,  and 
carried  out  in  a  spirit  of  grateful  dependence  upon 
Divine  grace,  might  ultimately  tell  with  a  salutary 
effect  upon  the  spiritual  interests  of  millions  of  our 
race  in  this  and  other  lands. 

And  why  should  it  not  be  so  ?  Why  should  you 
not  receive  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  your  Saviour,  and 
enter  at  once  upon  that  radiant  career  which  you  pic- 
ture to  yourselves  as  so  essential  a  part  of  your  future 
history  ?  Is  it  possible  to  suggest  a  single  considera- 
tion bearing  upon  the  question  of  your  future  repent- 
ance, w^iich  does  not  apply,  with  even  a  superior 
urgency,  to  the  present  moment  ?  If  religion  be  not 
all-important,  why  attend  to  it  at  all  ?  If  it  be  all- 
important,  why  not  attend  to  it  now  ? 

Under  no  circumstances  could  you  repaij  the  infinite 
debt  which  the  love  of  Christ  has  imposed  upon  you. 
But  you  are  now  in  a  situation  to  show  that  you  are 
not  insensible  to  his  kindness.  He  asks  your  confi- 
dence. He  invites  your  co-operation  in  that  sublime 
contest  he  is  waging  with  earth  and  hell,  for  the  re- 
demption of  man  from  the  intolerable  servitude  of  sin. 

He  enforces  this  appeal  not  only  by  motives  drawn 
from  the  past — ;from  his  incarnation,  his  example,  his 


30 


sacrificial  death, — but  by  arguments  derived  from  those 
glorious  rewards  of  the  humble  Christian,  in  compari- 
son with  which  the  noblest  professional  honors  and 
the  brightest  of  earthly  diadems  dwindle  into  insigni- 
ficance. Is  it  meet  that  munificence  like  this  should 
be  requited  with  the  vague  promise  o^  future  grati- 
tude ?  Will  you  seek  first  your  own  gratification,  and 
then  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer  ?  Will  you  exhaust 
your  time  and  your  energies  in  pursuing  the  transitory 
distinctions  and  emoluments  of  the  world,  and  lay 
upon  his  altar  only  the  broken  faculties  and  accumu- 
lated sins  of  a  decrepit  old  age  ?  There  cannot  be  a 
generous  susceptibility  of  your  hearts,  which  will  not 
revolt  at  the  sordid  selfishness  of  such  a  policy.  There 
is  not  an  utterance  of  the  law  nor  of  the  Gospel  which 
would  not  brand  it  with  the  turpitude  of  a  signal 
criminality.  - 

It  must  not  be  so.  Yield  to  the  instincts  of  your 
better  nature.  Bow  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and 
conscience,  and  return  to  your  allegiance.  Be  true  to 
yourselves.  Dare  to  be  singular  (if  that  be  involved 
in  it),  and,  whatever  others  may  do,  put  away  your 
sins  by  repentance,  and  lay  hold  upon  the  hope  of  the 
Gospel.  In  demanding  your  instant,  undivided,  per- 
petual homage,  God  exacts  of  you  only  a  most  reason- 
able service.  To  refuse  it  is  to  imperil  your  eternal 
well-being.  To  concede  it,  will  be  to  secure  to  your- 
selves every  needful  blessing  in  this  life,  and  "  glory 
AND  HONOR  AND  IMMORTALITY,"  bcyoud  the  grave. 


KOSSUTH  OR  WASHINGTON? 


THE   NEW  DOCTRINE 


INTERVENTION 


TRIED  BY  THE 


TEACHINGS  OE  WASHmCxTON: 

AN    ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  IN  THE 


TENTH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA, 

ON  MONDAY  AND  TUESDAY  EVENINGS,  THE  23d  AND  24th  OF 
FEBKUARY,  1852. 


BY 

H.   A.   BOARDMAN,   D.  D 


PHILADELPHIA: 
LIPPINCOTT,    GRAMBO    AND    CO., 

SUCCESSORS  TO  GRIGG,  ELLIOT  AND  CO. 

1852. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1852,  by 

LIPPINCOTT,  GRAMBO  AND  CO., 

in  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  and 
for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
T.   K.   AND  P.   G.   COLLINS,   PRINTER.S. 


ADDRESS. 


In  a  discourse  on  the  "  True  Mission  of  the  United 
States  in  respect  to  the  Nations  and  Governments 
OF  Europe,"  delivered  in  this  house,  on  the  last 
Thanksgiving  Day,  there  occurred  the  following  pas- 
sage : — 

"  Various  indications  show  that  a  concerted  effort 
is  about  to  be  made  to  break  do^vn  the  principle  of 
non-intervention,  which  has  hitherto  been  funda- 
mental to  our  foreign  policy,  and  to  involve  us  ac- 
tively in  the  conflicts  of  Europe.  Under  these 
circumstances,  it  becomes  a  grave  question  with  every 
citizen :  '  Is  this  plan,  or  the  other  which  has  been 
sketched,  the  true  way  to  discharge  our  duty  to  the 
old  world  ?  Are  we  to  send  fleets  and  armies  there 
(for  this  is  the  English  of  it),  or  are  we  to  take  care 
OF  this  Union  ?'  In  so  flir  as  this  may  be  a  legitimate 
topic  for  the  pulpit,  I  could  msh  that  my  strength 
and  your  patience  were  equal  to  a  brief  discussion  of 
it.  I  must,  however,  Avaive  it  with  the  citation  of 
one  or  two  of  those  solemn  and  monitory  sentences 
which  Washington  devotes  to  the  subject  in  his  Fare- 
well Address." 


6  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

The  sermon  from  which  this  paragraph  is  quoted, 
was  preached  nearly  a  fortnight  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Hmnholdt  in  December.  The  course  of  events 
since  that  steamer  landed  the  great  Hungarian  at 
Staten  Island,  is  familiar  to  all  who  hear  me.  If  it 
had  not  been  such  as  to  verify  in  an  alarming  degree 
the  prediction  then  hazarded,  that  a  vigorous  eifort 
was  about  to  be  made  to  revolutionize  our  foreign 
policy,  the  present  service  would  have  been  dispensed 
with.  It  is,  indeed,  with  unfeigned  reluctance,  and 
only  under  a  stringent  sense  of  duty,  that  I  now,  in 
the  altered  circumstances  of  the  country,  revert  to 
the  subject.  That  the  discussion  of  it  in  this  place 
will  encounter  more  or  less  prejudice,  is  a  thing  of 
course.  The  common  feeling  will  be,  that  it  is  a 
subject  which  lies  beyond  the  proper  jurisdiction  of 
the  pulpit,  and  the  less  clergymen  have  to  say  about 
it  officially,  the  better.  I  should  so  judge  myself,  if 
it  were  not  for  two  very  grave  considerations.  The 
first  is,  that  the  influence  of  "  the  clergy"  has  already, 
in  a  signal  manner,  been  put  forth  in  favor  of  the 
movement  now  in  progress.  Wherever  the  Hunga- 
rian chief  has  gone,  the  ministers  of  religion  have 
been  conspicuous  in  their  attentions  to  him.  Not 
only  youthful  preachers,  who  might  be  carried  away 
by  the  ardor  of  their  feelings,  but  men  venerable  alike 
for  their  years,  their  learning,  and  their  piety,  have 
vied  with  the  civil  authorities  in  doing  him  honor. 
This  is  not,  perhaps,  surprising.  M.  Kossuth  came  to 
us  as  the  representative  of  an  interesting  people,  whose 


OF  INTERVENTION.  7 

wrongs  had  excited  a  sentiment  of  indignation  in  the 
breasts  of  all  true  American  citizens.  We  must  have 
forfeited  all  title  to  our  own  Hberties,  and  to  the  respect 
of  mankind,  if  we  could  have  seen  Kussia  pour  her 
barbarous  hordes  down  the  Carpathians,  and  re-impose 
the  Austrian  yoke  upon  the  Hungarians,  just  as  they 
were  exulting  in  their  well-earned  deliverance,  with- 
out strong  emotion.  There  was  everything,  too,  in 
the  personal  character  and  history  of  our  guest,  to 
elicit  sympathy.  No  idle  spectator  of  his  country's 
woes,  he  had  vindicated  her  rights  with  surpassing- 
eloquence  in  the  senate,  guided  the  helm  in  the  tur- 
moil of  her  revolution,  commanded  her  armies,  shared 
in  her  disasters,  and,  hunted  from  her  soil,  secured  a 
shelter  from  the  scaffold  only  in  a  Turkish  prison. 
Then,  too,  he  stood  before  the  nation  as  a  Christian 
who,  before  whatever  audience,  proclaimed,  with  a 
frankness  too  rare  in  our  own  statesmen,  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Bible ;  as  a  Confessor,  who  had  nobly  re^ 
fused  to  sacrifice  his  faith  to  his  personal  safety ;  as  a 
Protestant,  the  inflexible  friend  of  rehgious  liberty,  and 
one  of  a  gallant  race  which,  after  repeatedly  rolling- 
back  from  Europe  the  devastating  torrent  of  Moham- 
medanism, was  now  compelled  to  see  its  own  ancient 
and  beloved  church  made  the  football  of  Jesuit  intol- 
erance  and   Austrian   tyranny.*     When   with  these 

*  "  Scarcely  had  Russia  restored  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  by  putting 
its  foot  on  the  neck  of  Hungary,  -when  the  first  act  of  that  house  was 
to  spill  noble  blood  by  the  hands  of  the  hangman,  and  its  second  was 
to  destroy  the  rights  of  the  Protestant  religion."  [Kossuth's  Sjieech  in 


8  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

attributes  you  combine  those  rare  oratorical  powers 
which  elicit  equal  admiration  from  the  most  refined 
and  the  most  uncultivated  auditories,  there  can  be  no 
room  for  surprise  that  Kossuth  should  have  received 
from  the  Protestant  clergy  the  same  cordial  greeting 
which  has  been  extended  to  him  by  all  other  profes- 
sions. 

But  he  visits  us,  it  must  be  remembered,  on  a  spe- 
cific errand.  He  comes,  not  as  an  emigrant,  like 
Uijhazy  and  others  of  his  friends,  to  seek  a  tranquil 
home  here;  not  simply  as  an  exile,  to  escape  from 
danger ;  not  mainly  as  a  fallen  leader,  to  obtain  need- 
ful succors  from  the  benevolent  and  the  patriotic,  for 
his  suffering  countrymen.  He  comes  (so  he  has 
elected  to  come)  on  a  political  mission;  as  an  ex- 
pounder of  international  law;  to  get  our  government 
to  incorporate  in  its  policy  a  certain  principle  he  has 
invented  for  the  relief  of  oppressed  nationalities,  the 
adoption  of  which  would  at  once  change  our  rela- 
tions with  all  the  States  of  Christendom,  and  alter 
the  whole  tone  and  spirit  of  our  confederation.  It  is 
not  in  this  aspect  that  the  clergy  have  regarded  him. 
They  have  not,  ordinarily,  made  this  subject  promi- 
nent in  their  complimentary  addresses  to  him.  But 
the  moral  effect  has  been  to  stamp  their  imprimatur 
upon  his  favorite  project.  His  answers  to  them  show 
that  this  is  the  impression  produced  upon  his  own 

London.)  There  is  reason  enough  why  all  the  sympathies  of  the 
Romish  hierarchy  in  Europe  and  America  should  be  on  the  side  of 
Austria. 


OF  INTERVENTION.  9 

miud,  and  there  are  but  too  many  proofs  that  the 
people  at  large  think  vdth  him.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  Protestant  ministers  of  the  States 
he  has  traversed,  are  set  down  by  the  country  as  en- 
dorsing the  grand  object  of  his  visit,  and  that  this 
conviction  has  contributed  essentially  to  the  tolerance 
it  has  met  with  among  sober-minded  people.  Nor 
will  it  discredit  this  belief,  that  the  religious  press 
and  the  pulpit  should  have  been  vigorously  emplo^^ed 
both  in  lauding  the  man  and  defending  his  peculiar 
dogma.  All  this  might  be  allowed  to  pass,  if  it  were 
a  question  merely  of  to-day.  It  is  not  very  probable 
that  even  the  eloquence  of  Kossuth  will  bring  about 
an  abandonment  of  that  prudent  and  advantageous 
policy  which  we  have  followed  for  three-quarters  of  a 
century.  But  if  he  fails,  other  foreigners  may  here- 
after tread  in  his  steps.  And  whether  they  should  or 
not,  politicians  of  native  growth  will  take  the  virus — 
for  everything  here  runs  into  party-poHtics — and  this 
question  will  reappear  in  our  domestic  elections.  In 
this  view  of  the  case,  it  wovdd  be  extremely  unfor- 
tunate, if  the  public  men  of  the  country  should  be  left 
to  suppose  that  the  Protestant  clergy,  as  a  body,  were 
friendly  to  the  new  doctrine  of  intervention.  The 
consequences  could  not  fail  to  be  disastrous  in  a  high 
degree.  As  one  of  that  honorable  profession,  there- 
fore, I  wish  to  unite  with  those  of  my  brethren  who, 
as  pastors  or  editors,  have  already  proclaimed  their 
dissent  from  the  new  theory.  Aware  that  the  opin- 
ions of  a  single  individual  like  myself  can  be  of  very 


10  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

little  moment  in  any  direction,  I  still  feel  constrained 
to  put  on  record  my  earnest  protest,  both  against  this 
theory,  and  against  the  manner  it  is  attempted  to 
force  it  upon  the  country.  I  am  very  far  from  com- 
plaining of  what  so  many  of  my  fathers  and  brethren 
have  done  and  are  doing;  but  I  must  claim  the  same 
liberty  they  have  exercised,  and  resist  the  scheme 
which  they  have  virtually  sanctioned. 

The  other  ground  on  which  the  introduction  of 
this  subject  into  the  pulpit  may  be  vindicated,  is,  that 
the  real  question  now  before  the  American  people,  is 
the  question  of  Peace  or  War.  The  furor  which 
gathers  around  the  eloquent  Magyar,  and  makes  his 
convocations  like  a  burning  prairie,  may  hide  the 
truth  from  some  eyes ;  but  no  one  who  has  his  reason 
in  full  play,  can  fixil  to  see  that  War,  with  its  ensan- 
guined horrors,  is  following  in  his  train.  If  this  be 
so,  the  right  of  the  pulpit  to  take  part  in  the  discus- 
sion is  not  to  be  gainsaid.  Patriotism,  piety,  hu- 
manity, forbid  it  to  be  silent.  As  individuals,  we 
have  the  same  stake  in  this  question  with  our  fellow- 
citizens  ;  and  as  ambassadors  of  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
we  should  incur  the  guilt  of  a  flagrant  disloyalty, 
could  we  see  a  course  of  measures  in  progress  legiti- 
mately tending  to  bring  down  this  great  calamity 
upon  the  country,  without  remonstrating  against 
them. 

If  these  views  are  assented  to,  there  can  be  no  dif- 
ference of  opinion  as  to  the  fitness  of  the  theme  to  the 
present  occasion.     Among  the  munificent  gifts  of  Di- 


OF  INTERVENTION.  11 

vine  Providence  to  this  Western  hemisphere,  the 
name  of  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  will  be  conspic- 
uous to  the  latest  posterity.  We  owe  our  present 
position  more,  under  God,  to  his  instrumentality, 
than  to  that  of  any  other  individual.  His  character 
is  part  of  our  best  earthly  treasure  :  his  teachings, 
one  of  our  richest  legacies.  By  a  faithful  adherence 
to  his  counsels,  we  have  enjoyed  an  unexampled  de- 
gree of  prosperity.  And  there  is  no  more  suitable 
way  in  which  we  can  manifest  our  reverence  for  his 
memory,  and  our  gratitude  to  heaven  for  bestowing 
him  upon  us,  than  by  repelling  all  attempts  to  per- 
vert his  principles  and  to  seduce  our  government 
from  the  wise  policy  he  prescribed  to  it.  Such  at- 
tempts are  now  making  with  a  boldness,  an  energy, 
and  an  apparent  impression  upon  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple, which  are  ominous  of  evil.  They  meet  us  in  a 
form  eminently  adapted  to  excite  our  sympathies  and 
disarm  our  opposition.  A  European  nation,  rising 
against  its  oppressors,  virtually  achieves  its  indepen- 
dence :  a  third  power,  interposing  with  an  over- 
whelming military  force,  after  shooting  and  gibbet- 
ing thousands  of  its  best  citizens,  replaces  its  chains, 
and  consigns  it  to  a  still  more  terrible  bondage.  The 
gifted  leader  of  this  injured  people  appears  amongst 
us,  and  tells  the  tale  of  his  country's  wrongs  with 
a  pathos  which  penetrates  the  most  stoical  bosoms. 
The  effect  produced  by  his  addresses  might  almost  be 
compared  to  that  which  followed  the  appeal  of  Maria 
Theresa  [A.  D.  1741]  when,  a  young  and  beautiful 


12  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

queen,  clad  in  deep  mourning,  with  the  crown  of  St. 
Stephen  on  her  head,  and  girt  with  his  sword,  and 
holding  her  infant  son  in  her  arms,  she  appeared  be- 
fore the  Hungarian  Diet,  and,  after  reciting  the 
dangers  which  threatened  her  kingdom,  threw  her- 
self upon  her  faithful  Palatines  for  protection.  The 
Magyar  chivalry  were  carried  by  storm.  In  an 
instant  every  sword  leaped  from  its  scabbard,  and 
amidst  the  cry,  "  Moriamur  pro  rege  nostro  Maria 
Theresa!"  they  swore  to  assert  her  rights,  and  to  shed 
the  last  drop  of  their  blood  in  her  defence.  More 
than  one  popular  assembly  in  the  United  States  has 
been  wTought  up  to  a  similar  pitch  of  enthusiasm  by 
the  solemn  and  touching  oratory  of  Kossuth.  And 
so  just  is  the  cause  of  his  country,  and  so  rare  the 
ability  with  which  he  advocates  it,  that  it  seems  a 
very  thankless  office  to  resist  his  demands  and  warn 
the  people  against  his  seductions.  But  duty  loses 
none  of  its  sacredness  by  being  unwelcome ;  and  we 
must  beware  how  we  put  even  Hungary  before  our 
own  glorious  Union,  or  exchange  the  visionary  specu- 
lations of  a  stranger  for  the  tried  wisdom  of  Wash- 
ington. 

What  is  it,  then,  that  is  asked  of  us  ?  You  shall 
hear  in  Kossuth's  own  words  : — 

"There  is  an  international  law  founded  upon  prin- 
ciples ;  and  one  of  those  principles  must  be,  that  every 
country  has  the  right  to  dispose  of  its  destinies  itself, 
and  that  no  foreign  power  can  have  the  right  to  in- 
terfere with  its  domestic   concerns.     This  principle 


OF  INTERVENTION.  ]  3 

has  been  recognized,  and  by  Russia.  But  the  princi- 
ple or  law  must  be  carried  out.  Who  shall  carry  it 
out  ?  The  executive  power  of  the  international  law 
should  be  exercised  only  by  a  free  nation,  for  no 
other  nation  can  have  the  power.  Therefore,  I  claim 
this  aid  from  the  United  States.  The  great  principle 
of  international  law  is  the  right  of  every  nation  to 
dispose  of  itself,  and  the  United  States  should  declare 
their  willingness  to  respect  that  law,  and  to  make  it 
respected  by  others."     [Speech  in  Brooklyn.) 

"  These  are  the  great  objects  for  which  I  seek  the 
support  of  the  United  States,  to  check  and  not  permit 
Russian  interference  in  Hungary;  because,  so  that 
Hungary  may  have  an  opportunity  to  organize  her 
strength  against  Russian  despotism  and  barbarity. 
This  is  the  reason  that  I  ask  the  United  States  to  be- 
come the  executive  power  to  recognize  the  right  of 
every  nation  to  dispose  of  itself.  This  is  the  only 
glory  which  is  yet  wanting  to  the  list  of  your  glorious 
stars.  The  people  of  the  United  States  having  suc- 
cessfully asserted  their  own  independence  and  freedom, 
have  scarcely  any  other  calling  than  to  become  the 
assertors  of  freedom  equally  for  other  lands;  and  I 
confidently  hope,  that  being  your  condition,  that  you 
will  not  deny  me  your  generous  support  in  carrying 
out  that  great  principle  of  non-interference,  and  also 
of  not  allowing  any  interference  in  that  new  struggle 
of  Hungary  for  freedom  and  independence,  which  is 
already  felt  in  the  air,  and  which  is  pointed  out  by  the 


14  THE  NEW  DOCTEINE 

finger  of  God  himself."     [Address  to  the  Military  of 
New  Yorh.) 

We  are  asked,  then,  to  do  two  things.  To  declare 
it  as  a  principle  of  international  law,  that  no  nation 
shall  interfere  in  the  domestic  concerns  of  another  na- 
tion, and  to  constitute  ourselves  the  executive  au- 
thority FOR  ENFORCING  THIS  LAW  all  ovcr  the  globe. 
We  are  to  "  make  this  law  respected  by  other  nations." 
We  are  to  "check  and  not  permit  Russian  interference 
in  Hungary."  We  are  to  regard  the  interference  of 
one  nation  with  the  internal  affairs  of  another  as  a 
legitimate  cause  of  war,  and,  if  nothing  short  will  an- 
swer, we  are  to  unsheath  the  sword  to  prevent  it. 

It  cannot  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  American 
government  or  people,  that  they  have  ever  been  indif- 
ferent to  the  progress  of  liberty  in  other  lands.  We 
have  watched  the  great  conflict  with  which  Europe  is 
perpetually  agitated,  between  prerogative  and  popular 
rights,  with  intense  solicitude.  Wherever  a  nation 
has  revolted  against  its  taskmasters,  we  have  cheered 
them  by  our  sympathy,  and  instructed  them  by  our 
example.  We  have  not  ceased  to  protest  against  the 
monstrous  dogmas  of  absolutism,  that  the  plenitude  of 
authority  and  right  is  vested  in  the  crown,  that  society 
derives  all  its  franchises  from  the  good-will  of  the 
sovereign,  and  that  the  people  have  nothing  to  do  with 
government  but  submit  to  its  decrees,  and  gratefully 
accept  such  favors  as  may  be  conceded  to  them.  Our 
abhorrence  of  these  principles  has  been  expressed,  not 


OF  INTERVENTION.  15 

merely  by  our  entire  periodical  press,*  and  in  the  j^ri- 
mary  assemblies  of  the  people,  but  in  our  gravest  state 
papers,  not  excluding  the  annual  "Messages"  of  the 
Presidents,  and  in  the  solemn  enactments  of  our  federal 
legislature.  The  despots  of  the  world  well  know,  and 
the  friends  of  freedom  in  all  lands  know,  where  we 
stand.  Our  "  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and 
our  words  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  Never,  until 
we  shall  have  sunk  so  low  in  virtue  and  patriotism  as 
to  be  fit  only  for  a  servile  yoke  ourselves,  can  we  cease 
to  desire,  and  in  all  prudent  and  legitimate  methods, 
to  promote  the  progress  of  rational  liberty  throughout 
the  earth. 

It  is  precisely  on  this  ground,  that  the  Utopian  doc- 
trine of  "  intervention  to  prevent  intervention,"  which 
now  solicits  our  sanction,  is  to  be  condemned.  It  is 
because  the  recognition  of  it  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States  would  be  most  disastrous  to  the  cause 
of  liberty  and  enlightened  progress  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  Because  it  would  throw  the  influence  of  this 
nation,  hitherto  the  beneficent  guardian  of  peace  and 
happiness  among  the  nations,  into  the  scale  of  merci- 
less and  insatiable  war. 

I  have  stigmatized  the  doctrine  as  "  Utopian."  This 
is  characterizing  it  by  too  mild  a  term.  We  are  called 
upon  to  interpolate  in  the  law  of  nations,  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet,  if  it  can  be  done  by  no  milder  process, 
the  provision,  that,  whenever  one  nation  forcibly  inter- 

*  Some  of  the  Romish  journals  excepted. 


16  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

feres  in  the  domestic  concerns  of  another,  this  shall 
be  deemed  by  other  nations  a  justifiable  cause  of  war, 
and  they  shall  accordingly  take  up  arms  against  the 
offending  state.  "  Interpolated  "  it  must  be,  and  that 
"at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,"  if  this  dictum  is  to  be 
incorporated  in  the  international  code.  It  will  be  time 
enough  to  talk  of  elevating  it  to  this  high  dignity, 
when  a  single  leading  cabinet  can  be  found  which  has 
not  "intervened"  in  the  affairs  of  other  nations.  To 
speak  of  what  the  great  continental  powers  have  done 
and  are  constantly  doing  in  this  line,  would  be  super- 
fluous. We  are  more  concerned  to  know  how  England 
stands  affected  towards  the  rule,  since  it  is  proposed, 
or  rather  was  proposed,  when  Kossuth  was  there,  to 
associate  her  with  ourselves  in  carrying  it  into  effect. 
One  of  her  own  prominent  journals  shall  supply  us 
with  the  requisite  information  : — 

"  The  English  ought  to  know  something  about  in- 
tervention, for  they  have  had  some  experience  of  it, 
and  are  paying  dear  for  that  experience.  We  inter- 
fered in  behalf  of  royalty  and  order  in  France.  We 
have  interfered  to  deliver  her  and  Europe  from  anar- 
chists and  military  adventurers.  We  drove  the  French 
out  of  Sicily,  and  restored  it  to  the  King  of  Naples. 
Our  fleets  girded  the  shores  of  Italy,  and  by  that  and 
other  services  we  earned  from  the  Pope  the  memora- 
ble declaration  that  George  III.  was  the  best  of  his 
subjects.  We  helped  to  drive  the  French  out  of  Portu- 
gal and  Spain.  More  recently,  we  have  kept  up  a  long 
course  of  interference  in  the  afftiirs  of  the  Peninsula, 


1 


OF  INTERVENTION.  17 

and  have  helped  materially  to  set  up  two  constitutional 
queens.  Russia,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  other  smaller 
states,  have  to  thank  us  for  immense  subsidies,  and  for 
other  assistance,  to  which  they  are  greatly  indebted 
for  the  respectable  figure  they  severally  make  on  the 
map  of  Europe.  We  have  interfered  to  give  liberty 
and  independence  to  Greece,  and  bless  her  Avith  a  court 
and  a  king.  We  have  interfered  to  save  Turkey  from 
being  utterly  swallowed  up  by  Mehemet  Ali  and  his 
son,  and  have  restored  the  Holy  Land  to  the  paternal 
dominion  of  the  Porte.  We  have  interfered,  first,  to 
give  Belgium  to  the  king  of  Holland,  and  then  to  take 
it  away  and  make  it  independent.  Indeed,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  where  we  have  not  interfered,  what  govern- 
ment we  have  not  thwarted  or  befriended,  what  people 
we  have  not  backed  up  against  their  ruler,  or  what 
ruler  we  have  not  assisted  against  his  subjects.  But 
it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  particularize  interferences, 
seeing  that  nearly  all  our  wars  for  the  last  sixty  years 
have  been  wars  of  interference,  viz.,  for  the  purely 
philanthropical  object  of  estaljlishing  order  and  free- 
dom in  foreign  countries,  propagating  constitutional 
ideas,  adjusting  the  balance  of  power,  and  reforming- 
mankind  after  the  model  of  England."* 

This  summary  will  enable  us  to  judge  how  far  Eng- 
land is  prepared  to  join  with  us  in  engrafting  the  pro- 
posed novelty  upon  PufFendorf  and  Yattel.     When- 

*  Quoted  in  the  New  York  Observer,  of  January  15th  ;  a  jdunial 
which  has  discussed  this  question,  on  the  anti-Kossuth  side,  in  a  series 
of  editorial  articles  written  with  much  ability  and  candor. 


18  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

ever  she  is  ready  to  repudiate  the  whole  course  of  her 
public  policy,  she  will  do  it — and  not  till  then.  Mean- 
while, she  will  continue  to  provide  palaces  for  fugitive 
kings;  and  leave  popular  heroes,  who  may  reach  her 
shores  in  misfortune,  to  such  comfort  as  they  may 
gather  from  the  cheers  of  the  people,  abated  by  the 
studied  indifference  of  the  crown,  the  aristocracy,  the 
established  clergy,  and  the  cabinet. 

Candor  requires  the  acknowledgment  that,  in  some 
of  these  cases  of  intervention,  the  British  government 
has  had  our  cordial  approval.  Not  to  specify  doubt- 
ful examples,  where  is  the  American  who  did  not 
heartily  commend  the  joint  intervention  of  the  three 
allied  powers  in  behalf  of  Greece?  Had  the  new 
statute  then  been  in  force,  the  battle  of  Navarino  had 
not  been  fought,  and  Greece  must  have  fallen  back 
under  the  iron  rule  of  the  Moslem.  Nor  is  this  all. 
If,  in  the  face  of  this  international  compact,  the  allies 
had  interfered,  we  and  other  nations  must  have  inter- 
vened against  them  !  We  must  have  sided  with  the 
Turk  against  the  Greek,  with  the  Crescent  against  the 
Cross,  with  the  tyrant  against  his  victims. 

Or,  to  come  to  a  still  more  recent  example,  one  of 
the  first  acts  of  the  pseudo  French  republic  of  '48, 
was  to  issue  a  "  Manifesto  to  Europe,"  full  of  inflated 
protestations  about  liberty,  in  which  there  occurred 
this  passage :  "  If  the  independent  States  of  Italy 
should  be  invaded ;  if  limits  or  obstacles  should  be 
opposed  to  their  internal  changes;  if  there  should  be 
any  armed  interference  with  their  right  of  allying 


OF  INTERVENTION.  19 

themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of  consohdating 
an  Itahan  nation,  the  French  republic  would  think 
itself  entitled  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  those  law- 
ful movements  for  the  improvement  and  the  nation- 
ality of  States."  The  next  thing  we  hear,  after  this 
sublime  flourish,  Italy  is  "  invaded,"  "  limits  and  ob- 
stacles are  opposed  to  her  internal  changes,"  an  "  armed 
interference"  represses  the  will  of  her  peoj^le,  and  a 
French  army,  storming  the  "  Eternal  Citj'"  amidst 
carnage  and  blood,  subverts  the  infant  republic,  and 
reconstructs  the  throne  of  sacerdotal  despotism.  The 
infamy  of  this  procedure  has  no  archetype  except  in 
the  blackest  pages  of  European  history.  Sooner  or 
later,  retributive  justice  will  avenge  it  upon  that  per- 
fidious nation,  if,  indeed,  they  are  not  already  reaping 
the  fruit  of  it.  Suppose,  now,  instead  of  the  inter- 
vention of  this  mock-republic  against  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, England  had  interposed  for  them ;  that  a  British 
army  had  landed  at  Civita  Vecchia,  and  protected  the 
triumvirate  in  carrjdng  into  effect  the  expressed  wishes 
of  the  nation  for  a  change  of  government.  What 
course  would  the  new  enactment  have  imposed  upon 
the  other  nations,  and  ourselves  as  one  of  them? 
Why,  that  we  should  "  intervene"  to  resist  England. 
That  we  should  espouse  the  cause  of  the  jiriestly  fu- 
gitive the  Romans  had,  by  common  consent,  deposed 
from  his  secular  sovereignty,  and  replace  in  the  Vati- 
can that  double-headed  tyranny  which  has  been  the 
scourge  of  Christendom  for  the  last  twelve  hundred 
years!     Such  would  be  the  practical  working  of  the 


20  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

principle  we  are  seriously  asked  to  recognize,  and 
even  compel  the  rest  of  the  world  to  recognize,  as  an 
essential  provision  of  international  law. 

Without  amplifying  this  point,  the  conclusions  to 
which  we  are  shut  up  are  manifest.  As  a  general 
proposition,  the  abstract  right  of  every  nation  to  man- 
age its  own  affairs,  must  be  admitted.  Occasions 
may  arise,  however,  to  justify  foreign  intervention. 
The  mere  fact  of  intervention  determines  nothing  as 
to  its  character;  it  may  or  may  not  be  an  infringe- 
ment of  international  rights.  In  some  cases,  it  sup- 
plies a  just  ground  of  war  on  the  part  of  other  nations. 
In  other  cases,  it  is  so  far  from  being  a  casus  belli,  that 
it  imposes  on  other  nations  an  obligation  of  gratitude 
to  the  "  intervening"  nation,  as  being  eminently  con- 
ducive to  the  interests  of  humanity  and  constitutional 
liberty.  The  rights  and  obligations  involved  in  the 
matter  are  too  diversified  and  intricate  to  be  adjusted 
by  sweeping,  categorical  canons.  Cases  must  be  dis- 
posed of  as  they  arise,  each  on  its  own  merits.  Every 
cabinet  must  meet  the  question  of  right  and  the  ques- 
tion of  policy,  on  its  own  responsibility  to  God  and  the 
civilized  world.  Governments,  too,  must  act  on  those 
common-sense  principles  which  control  individuals  in 
analogous  circumstances.  No  prudent  man  ties  up  his 
hands  against  all  possible  interference  in  the  family 
quarrels  of  his  neighbors ;  still  less,  pledges  himself  to 
fight  other  people  if  they  interfere.  As  a  general  rule, 
interference  would  be  wrong  in  morals,  and  practically 
mischievous.     But  if  a  man  learned  that  his  nei<?hbor 


OF  INTERVENTION.  21 

was  trying  to  murder  his  wife  or  children,  he  would 
be  likely  to  interfere,  and  to  get  others  to  help  him. 
Cabinets,  that  have  not  wedded  themselves  to  an  ab- 
straction, will  reserve  a  similar  discretion,  neither  pre- 
judging questions  of  intervention,  nor  hampering  their 
freedomwith  self-imposed  restrictions;  since,  "in  truth, 
it  is  not  the  interfering  or  keeping  aloof,  but  iniquit- 
ous intermeddlings,  or  treacherous  inaction,  which  is 
praised  or  blamed  by  the  decision  of  an  equitable 
judge."* 

The  importance  of  these  principles  will  be  appa- 
rent as  we  proceed.  They  may  especially  aid  us  in 
comparing  the  new  doctrine  with  the  past  policy  of 
our  government. 

When  the  Panama  Mission  was  under  discussion 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  1826,  a  distin- 
guished gentlemanf  from  this  State,  in  the  course 
of  an  able  speech  adverse  to  the  appointment  of 
an  Envoy,  said,  in  allusion  to  the  President :  "  Know- 
ing that  the  American  people  considered  an  adher- 
ence to  the  Farewell  Address  of  the  man  who  was 
first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrjTnen,  to  be  the  palladium  of  their  safety, 
he  has,  by  a  long  and  ingenious  argument,  attempted 
to  destroy  its  force."  Without  endorsing  the  censure 
upon  the  President  expressed  in  this  observation,  it 
will  recall  to  every  mind  what  has  happened  in  con- 
nection with  the  present  excitement.     At  the  very 

*  Burke:  On  the  Policy  of  the  Allies. 
t  Mr.  Buchanan. 


22  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

first  banquet  tendered  him  in  this  country,  the  Hun- 
garian leader  put  forth  all  his  powers  in  an  ingenious 
argument  to  explain  away  the  principles  of  the  Fare- 
well Address,  He  was  too  subtle  an  advocate  and  too 
shrewd  a  politician  not  to  know  that  he  could  no  more 
effect  his  object  so  long  as  Washington  stood  in  his 
way,  than  an  engineer  can  carry  his  rails  through  a 
granite  barrier  without  tunnelling  the  rock.  Whether 
it  became  him,  an  exile,  invited  to  our  shores  by  the 
generous  hospitality  of  our  Government,  to  set  him- 
self up,  almost  before  the  spray  of  the  ocean  was  dry 
upon  his  clothes,  as  the  expositor  of  that  immortal 
instrument,  and  to  undertake  to  instruct  the  Ameri- 
can people  in  the  true  import  of  sentences  which  are 
among  their  household  words,  and  written  upon  their 
heart  of  hearts — whether  this  was  quite  befitting  to 
a  man  in  his  circumstances,  is  a  point  on  which  it 
might  be  thought  there  could  be  little  difference  of 
opinion.  It  is  certain  this  was  not  the  errand  on 
which  he  was  invited  to  this  country.  No  adminis- 
tration, no  Congress,  would  have  sent  a  national  ship 
to  the  Dardanelles  to  receive  him,  if  it  could  have 
been  anticipated  that,  from  the  moment  of  his  landing 
on  our  shores,  he  would  employ  his  extraordinary 
powers  in  subverting  the  influence  of  Washington, 
and  bringing  about  a  radical  change  in  our  foreign 
policy.  We  stood  in  need  of  no  such  'intervention,' 
and  no  such  teaching.  If  we  do  not  comprehend  the 
principles  of  Washington,  at  the  end  of  a  half  century 
after  his  death,  it  is  not  probable  we  ever  shall.     Our 


OF  INTERVENTION.  23 

new  preceptor  seems  to  imagine  that,  like  the  Ethi- 
opian treasurer  who  sat  in  his  chariot  and  read  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  we  need  a  second  PhiUp  to  help  us 
"  understand  what  we  read ;"  and  he  has  magnani- 
mously volunteered  his  exegetical  services.  With 
what  success,  must  be  judged  by  those  who  have  sifted 
and  weighed  the  impassioned  sophistries  with  which, 
on  so  many  occasions,  he  has  labored  to  show  that 
General  Washington  not  only  was  not  against  his 
scheme,  but  w^as  actually  in  favor  of  it !  Without  ex- 
amining his  arguments  in  detail,  let  us  once  more 
listen  to  Washington's  own  words.  The  Farewell  Ad- 
dress is  too  familiar,  to  make  it  necessary  that  I  should 
quote  more  than  two  or  three  sentences  from  it. 

"  The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to 
foreign  nations,  is,  in  extending  our  commercial  rela- 
tions, to  have  as  little  political  connection  with  them 
as  possible."  "  Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests, 
which  to  us  have  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation. 
Hence,  she  must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies, 
the  causes  of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  con- 
cerns. Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to 
implicate  ourselves  by  artificial  ties,  in  the  ordinary 
vicissitudes  of  her  politics,  or  the  ordinary  combina- 
tions and  collisions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities." 
"  Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation  ? 
Why  quit  our  own,  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ? 
Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of  any 
part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperit}^  in 
the   toils  of  European  ambition,  rivalship,   interest, 


24  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

humor,  or  caprice  ?  It  is  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear 
of  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of  the  foreign 
world." 

The  same  judicious  and  patriotic  sentiments  are 
everywhere  expressed  in  his  Correspondence.       ' 

"  My  ardent  desire  is,  and  my  aim  has  been,  so  far 
as  depended  upon  the  Executive  department,  to  com- 
ply strictly  with  all  our  engagements,  foreign  and 
domestic;  but  to  keep  the  United  States  free  from 
political  connections  with  every  other  country,  to  see 
them  independent  of  all,  and  under  the  influence  of 
none.  In  a  word,  I  want  an  American  character,  that 
the  powers  of  Europe  may  be  convinced  we  act  for 
ourselves,  and  not  for  others.  This,  in  my  judgment, 
is  the  only  way  to  be  respected  abroad,  and  happy  at 
home ;  and  not,  by  becoming  the  partisans  of  Great 
Britain  or  France,  create  dissensions,  disturb  the  pub- 
lic tranquillity,  and  destroy,  perhaps  forever,  the  ce- 
ment which  binds  the  Union. "'^ 

"  My  policy  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  while 
I  have  the  honor  to  remain  in  the  administration,  to 
maintain  friendly  terms  with,  but  be  independent  of, 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  to  share  in  the  broils  of 
none  ;  to  fulfil  our  own  engagements ;  to  supply  the 
wants  and  be  carriers  for  them  all ;  being  thoroughly 
convinced  that  it  is  our  policy  and  interest  to  do  so."f 

"  No  policy,  in  my  opinion,  can  be  more  clearly 
demonstrated,  than  that  we  should  do  justice  to  all, 

*  Letter  to  Patrick  Henry,  Oct.  9,  1795. 
t  To  Gouverneur  Morris,  Dec.  22,  1795. 


OF  LN'TER-STENTION".  ZO 

and  have  no  political  connection  with  any  of  the  Euro- 
pean powers,  be\'ond  those  which  result  from  and  serve 
to  regulate  our  commerce  with  them.  Our  own  ex- 
perience, if  it  has  not  already  had  this  effect,  will  soon 
convince  us,  that  the  idea  of  disinterested  fiivors  or 
friendship  from  any  nation  whatever  is  too  novel  to 
be  calculated  on,  and  there  will  ahvays  be  found  a 
wide  difference  between  the  words  and  actions  of  any 
of  them."* 

"  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  our  country  will 
stand  upon  independent  ground,  or  be  directed  in  its 
pohtical  concerns  by  any  other  nation.  A  little  time 
will  show  who  are  its  true  friends,  or,  what  is  synon- 
ymous, who  are  true  Americans ;  those  who  are  stimu- 
lating a  foreign  nation  to  unfriendly  acts,  repugnant  to 
our  rights  and  dignity,  and  advocating  all  its  measures, 
or  those  whose  only  aim  has  been  to  maintain  a  strict 
neutrality,  to  keep  the  United  States  out  of  the  vortex 
of  European  politics,  and  to  preserve  them  in  peace."f 
"  On  the  politics  of  Europe,  I  shall  express  no  opinion, 
nor  make  any  inquiry  who  is  right  or  who  is  wrong. 
I  wish  well  to  all  nations  and  to  all  men.  My  politics 
are  plain  and  simple.  I  think  every  nation  has  a 
right  to  establish  that  form  of  government  under 
which  it  conceives  it  may  live  most  happy,  provided 
it  infracts  no  right,  or  is  not  dangerous  to  others ;  and 
that  no  governments  ought  to  interfere  with  the  internal 

*  To  William  Heath,  May  20,  1797. 
t  To  Thomas  Pincknev,  May  28,  1797. 


26  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

concerns  of  <inother,  except  for  the  security  of  what 
is  due  to  themselves."* 

If  these  sentiments  are  not  intelligible  to  the 
American  j)eople  without  an  elaborate  commentary, 
we  are  certainly  below  the  average  mental  caj)acity 
of  the  human  family.  The  simple  truth  is,  Wash- 
ington has  expressed  himself  on  this  subject  with 
such  explicitness,  such  earnestness,  such  deep  solem- 
nity, even,  that  it  requires  a  very  high  degree  of 
assurance  for  any  man  to  attempt  to  obscure  or  per- 
vert the  clear  and  emphatic  import  of  his  words. 

The  plea,  that  he  enjoins  "neutrality"  merely  as 
between  belligerent  nations,  but  "  does  not  even  re- 
commend non-interference,""}*  is  the  subterfuge  of  an 
advocate,  not  the  fair  and  manly  construction  of  a 
candid  inquirer  after  truth.  If  he  does  not,  in  the 
j)assages  just  quoted,  recommend  to  his  countrymen 
non-interference  in  the  concerns  of  other  nations, 
then  that  idea  cannot  be  embodied  in  language.  And 
besides,  the  argument  is  from  the  greater  to  the  less. 
If  he  protests  against  interference  where  nations  are 
at  war,  much  more  does  he  protest  against  the  adop- 
tion of  any  rule  by  which  we  shall  bind  ourselves  to 
interfere  wherever  one  nation  has  seen  fit  to  meddle- 
with  the  affairs  of  another.  In  the  former  case,  we 
should  ordinarily  have  but  one  war  on  our  hands  at 
a  time ;  in  the  latter,  we  should  rarely,  if  ever,  be 
out  of  war,  and  might  easily  have  several  wars  to 

*  To  General  Lafayette,  Dec.  25,  1798. 

t  Kossuth's  Speech  at  the  Corporation  Banquet  in  New  York. 


OF  INTERVENTION.  27 

manage  at  once.  For  this  notion  of  playing  High 
Sheriff  among  the  nations,  however  flattering  to  our 
vanity,  would  be  found  rather  troublesome  in  the  ex- 
ecution. There  is  no  great  extravagance  in  presum- 
ing that  they  might  sometimes  prove  refractory  ;  and 
if  they  should,  what  would  remain  for  us  but  cannon 
and  bayonets  ? — But  for  the  gravity  of  the  subject, 
it  would  be  positively  ludicrous  to  hear  the  name  of 
Washington  invoked  as  sanctioning  a  doctrine  legiti- 
mately  leading  to  results  like  these. 

Allowing,  however,  that  the  country  has  correctly 
interpreted  his  counsels,  they  were  only  of  "  tempo- 
rary application."  His  policy  was  very  well  for  our 
childhood,  but  it  should  be  consigned  to  the  Museums 
now,  with  the  old  revolutionary  guns  and  uniforms. 
We  are  '•'  too  great  a  people"  to  isolate  ourselves  from 
the  rest  of  the  w^orld,  like  the  Japanese.  Our  voice 
should  be  heard,  and  our  power  felt,  in  adjusting  the 
quarrels  and  shaping  the  destinies  of  the  nations. 

Such  are  the  syren  strains  with  which  both  foreign 
and  domestic  orators  are  essaying  to  emancipate  us 
from  the  servitude  imposed  on  us  by  the  Founders  of 
the  Republic,  and  ratified  by  every  administration 
from  President  Washington's  to  President  Fillmore's. 
That  the  relations  and  duties  of  nations  may  change 
with  their  growth,  no  one  will  deny.  But  it  is  for 
the  advocates  of  the  new^  scheme  to  show  that  the 
policy  prescribed  by  our  fathers  is  not  as  w^ell  suited 
to  our  manhood  as  it  was  to  our  infancy.  We  are 
"a  great  nation :"  not  quite  so  great  as  some  politicians 


28  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

would  have  the  people  believe,  but  still,  "a  great 
nation."  And  what  has  made  us  one?  An  inflexible 
adherence,  under  God,  to  the  principles  we  are  now 
asked  to  discard.  "We  are  what  we  are,  because 
"keeping  out  of  the  vortex  of  European  politics,"* 
"avoiding  all  entangling  alliances,""!-  and  "abstaining 
from  any  intervention  in  the  affairs  of  other  govern- 
ments, as  contrary  to  our  principles  of  national 
policy,"J  we  have  minded  our  own  business,  taken 
care  of  our  own  interests,  and  applied  ourselves,  with 
an  humble  and  grateful  dependence  on  the  Giver  of 
all  good,  to  the  development  and  culture  of  those  re- 
sources, physical,  intellectual,  and  moral,  which  the 
munificence  of  the  Creator  has  bestowed  upon  us  with 
an  unexampled  prodigality.  The  auspicious  results 
of  this  policy  are  before  the  world.  They  are  the 
constant  theme  of  our  gratitude  to  God.  They  are 
no  less  the  theme  of  eloquent  eulogy  with  the  Hun- 
garian chief  and  his  American  coadjutors,  who  in  one 
breath  laud  our  present  position  to  the  skies,  and  in 
the  next  exhort  us  to  quit  the  broad  thoroughfare 
which  has  conducted  us  to  it,  for  intricate  and  tangled 
by-paths  which  no  nation  ever  yet  attempted  without 
being  seriously  damaged,  if  not  ruined.  If  they  ex- 
pect us  to  heed  their  counsel,  to  sacrifice  all  our  na- 
tional traditions,  and  embark  on  the  stormy  sea  of 
European  politics,  let  them  show  some  solid  reasons 
for  it.     This  inflated  declamation  about  our  grandeur 

*  W.ashington.  f  Jefferson.  %  Jackson.   . 


OF  INTERVENTION.  29 

and  our  prowess  is  nothing  to  the  purpose,  unless  they 
can  set  aside  the  maxims  of  Washington  and  his  suc- 
cessors respecting  the  principles  which  should  control 
our  foreign  policy.  Let  them  prove,  if  they  can,  that 
Europe  has  ceased  to  have  her  own  "primary  in- 
terests," and  her  own  "controversies,"  and  that,  "in 
extending  our  commercial  relations,  therefore,  we 
should  have  as  little  ])olltlcal  connection  with  her  as 
possible."  Let  them  show  that,  in  virtue  of  our  rapid 
advancement  in  the  scale  of  nations,  the  time  has 
come  when  we  should  "quit  our  own  to  stand  upon 
foreign  ground,  and  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity 
in  the  toils  of  European  ambition,  rivalship,  interest, 
humor,  or  caprice."  In  a  word,  let  them  demonstrate 
that  it  is  not  as  much  our  wisdom  and  our  duty  now 
as  it  was  in  '95  and  '98,  to  "keep  the  United  States 
free  from  political  connections  with  every  other 
country;"  to  "maintain  friendly  terms  with,  but  be 
independent  of,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth;  to  share 
in  the  broils  of  none;  to  fulfil  our  own  engagements; 
to  supply  the  w^ants  and  be  carriers  for  them  all;" 
and  not,  by  becoming  the  partisans  of  particular  na- 
tions or  cabinets,  to  "create  dissensions,  disturb  the 
public  tranquillity,  and  destroy,  perhaps  forever,  the 
cement  which  binds  the  Union."  They  have  hitherto 
found  it  much  easier  to  evade  the  real  question  at 
issue,  than  to  show  that  these  maxims  were  of  mere 
temporary  efficacy.  Why,  since  the  alternative  has 
come  to  be,  KOSSUTH  or  WASHINGTON,  do  they 
not  grapple  with  the  subject,  and  show  that  Washing- 


30  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

ton's  writings  are  only  a  horn-book  for  a  people  in 
leading-strings;  and  that,  now  we  are  out  of  the 
nursery,  we  must  emulate  the  wisdom  of  the  Hebrews, 
who,  after  Moses  had  led  them  safely  across  the  sea, 
were  for  discarding  him,  to  set  up  some  extemporane- 
ous captain  of  their  own  choosing  ?  In  the  absence 
of  any  such  frank  and  courageous  dealing  with  the 
teachings  of  Washington,  various  considerations  are 
brought  forward  in  support  of  the  new  policy. 

We  have  been  admonished  by  the  able  and  accom- 
plished inventor  of  the  scheme,  that  self-preservation 
requires  our  acceptance  of  it.  The  despots  of  Europe 
will  not  be  satisfied  with  suppressing  the  free  nation- 
alities contiguous  to  them.  Having  effected  this  end, 
they  will  turn  their  attention  to  the  United  States. 
"And  if  (so  he  has  told  us)  you  do  not  take  the 
position  I  humbly  claim,  you  will  have  to  fight  a  war 
single-handed,  within  less  than  five  years,  against 
Russia  and  all  Europe."*  "  Remember — you  will 
have  to  fight,  surrounded  by  enemies,  weakened  by 
discord,  standing  forsaken,  single-handed,  alone, 
against  the  whole  worldy-\ 

And  so,  in  the  same  strain,  "  Professor  Kinkel,"  at 
Louisville  :  If  you  suffer  Germany  to  fall,  "  the  united 
fleets  of  Europe  wall  prevent  your  trade,  and  block  up 
the  ways  of  communication  between  our  shores — no 
emigrant  will  be  allowed  to  come  to  you  to  strengthen 
your  power ;  and,  if  you  will  live,  then  you,  a  people 

*  At  Pittsburg.  t  At  Cincinnati. 


_  J 


OF  INTERVENTION.  31 

of  twenty-four  millions,  will  have  to  fight  against  two 
hundred  millions  of  Europeans." 

This  is  sufficiently  startling,  or  would  be,  if  either 
Kossuth  or  Kinkel  bore  the  credentials  of  a  prophet- 
It  is  not,  however,  without  a  parallel  in  our  history. 
Precisely  the  same  argument  was  used  by  Citizen  Ge- 
net, the  obnoxious  Minister  of  the  French  Directory,  in 
his  incendiary  efforts  to  embroil  us  in  a  war  with  Eng- 
land in  '93.  In  a  letter  from  Henry  Lee  to  General 
Washington,  written  in  June  of  that  year,  he  says, 
in  describing  an  interview  with  Genet :  "  He  seemed 
to  acquiesce  in  my  reasoning,  but  insinuated  that, 
in  case  the  royal  government  was  re-established  in 
France,  the  kings  of  Europe  would  combine  to  destroy 
liberty  here,  and  that  our  existence  as  a  nation  de- 
pended on  the  success  of  the  Republican  system  (in 
France)."  This  prophecy  shared  the  common  fate 
of  uninspired  vaticinations.  It  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  a  second  edition  of  it  will  fare  any  better. 
Let  the  morrow  take  thought  for  the  things  of  itself. 
We  must  look  after  the  duties  of  to-day.  It  wdll  be 
hard  to  convince  a  "  calculating"  people  like  our  coun- 
trymen, that  it  is  one  of  these  duties  to  go  to  war 
with  Russia,  lest  we  may,  at  the  end  of  a  single  lus- 
trum, have  to  fight  the  whole  world. 

But  the  consideration  which  is  jJi'essed  with  the 
most  vehemence,  not  onh'  by  our  distinguished  visi- 
tor, but  at  popular  meetings  and  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress, is,  that  it  does  not  l^ecome  such  a  power  as  the 
United  States  to  be  indifferent  to  the  struggles  of 


32  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

other  nations  laboring  to  achieve  their  independence. 
The  charge  implied  in  this  language  has  already  been 
repelled.  It  is  simply  untrue.  It  proceeds  upon  the 
assumption  that  there  is  only  one  method  in  which 
we  can  display  our  sympathy  in  the  progress  of 
liberty  abroad,  and  that  to  decline  the  scheme  of  in- 
tervention, is  equivalent  to  doing  nothing. 

It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  this  is  urged  with  sin- 
cerity j  for  there  is  not  an  intelligent  boy  amongst  us, 
who  does  not  know  that  the  influence  of  our  institu- 
tions is  felt  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Instead 
of  doing  nothing  for  the  cause  of  freedom,  we  have 
done  more  during  the  present  century  than  all  other 
earthly  agencies  combined.  The  question  now  to  be 
settled,  is,  whether  we  shall  adhere  to  a  policy  which 
has  been  attended  with  such  resplendent  advantages 
to  mankind,  or  launch  forth  upon  a  career  of  experi- 
ment which  must  imperil  our  own  capacities  of  useful- 
ness and  obstruct  the  emancipation  of  other  nations. 

To  some  minds,  that  conservation  of  our  own  insti- 
tutions, which  has  given  us  so  rare  a  power  to  do 
good,  seems  quite  too  tame  an  object  to  engross  the 
ambition  of  a  "  great  republic."  We  have  reached  a 
point  where  we  can  safely  bestow  a  moiety  of  the  care 
hitherto  demanded  by  our  own  affiiirs,  upon  the  con- 
cerns of  other  nations.  The  exigencies  of  a  mixed 
population  of  twenty-three  millions,  spread  over  twen- 
ty-one degrees  of  latitude,  and  fifty-four  degrees  of 
longitude,  with  every  variety  of  climate  and  produc 
tion,  a  maritime  and  inland  frontier  of  several  thou- 


OF  INTERYEXTION.  33 

sand  miles  in  extent,  a  commerce  which  whitens  every 
sea,  contlicting  sectional  jealousies,  violent  political 
contests,  a  most  delicate  combination  of  Federal  and 
State  relations,  and  accumulating  masses  of  ignorance, 
lawlessness,  and  semi-barbarism,  can  all  be  provided 
for,  and  still  leave  us  free  to  assume  the  protectorate 
of  human  rights  and  the  executive  of  international 
law,  for  the  rest  of  the  world.  Could  national  vanity 
or  national  infatuation  go  further  ?  One  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago,  a  classic  j)oet  of  England  celebrated 
her  mission  in  these  characteristic  lines : — 

"  'Tis  Britain's  care  to  watch  o'er  Europe's  fate, 
And  hold  in  balance  each  contending  State  ; 
To  threaten  bold  presumptuous  kings  with  war, 
And  answer  her  afflicted  neighbor's  prayer." 

This  is  the  identical  mission  which  is  now  chal- 
lenged for  us ;  the  only  difierence  being  that,  instead 
of  having  it  propounded  in  graceful  poetry,  it  is  com- 
mended to  us  in  very  thrilling  prose.  If  we  are  ready 
to  take  the  post,  there  is  no  fear  but  that  England 
will  resign  it  to  us;  for,  when  these  verses  were  writ- 
ten, her  public  debt  was  sixteen  millions  of  pounds 
sterling,  and  now  it  is  about  eight  hundred  millions. 
The  greater  part  of  this  enormous  sum  has  gone  in 
carrying  out  her  self-assumed  vocation  of  maintaining 
the  balance  of  power  and  redressing  her  neighbors' 
grievances.  It  may  be  well  to  ponder  these  figures, 
before  we  offer  to  relieve  her  of  her  police-duties. 

For,  if  we  become  the  sponsors  of  the  Kossuth 
principle,  "  Intervention  to  prevent  intervention,"  how 
3 


34  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

is  it  possible  to  avoid  war?  He  has  himself  conceded 
the  point.  In  his  address  to  the  New  York  Bar,  he 
spoke  as  follows  : — 

"  Yes,  gentlemen,  I  confess,  should  Russia  not  re- 
spect such  a  declaration  of  your  country,  then  you 
are  obliged,  literally  obliged,  to  go  to  war,  or  else  be 
prepared  to  be  degraded  before  mankind  from  your 
dignity.  Yes,  I  confess  that  would  be  the  case.  But 
you  are  powerful  enough  to  defy  any  power  on  earth 
in  a  just  cause,  as  your  Washington  said;  so  may  God 
help  me,  as  it  is  true,  that  never  was  there  yet  a  more 
just  cause.  There  was  enough  of  war  on  the  earth 
for  ambition,  or  egotistical  interests  even  for  womanly 
whims,  to  give  to  humanity  the  glorious  example  of  a 
great  people  going  even  to  war,  not  for  egotistical  in- 
terest, but  for  justice  of  the  law  of  nations,  for  the 
law  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God,  and  it  will  be  no 
great  mischief  after  all.  Protect  them,  defend  them 
ever,  if  thou  hast  to  go  to  war  for  it !  That  will  be 
a  holier  war  than  ever  yet  was,  and  the  blessing  of 
God  will  be  with  thee.  And  yet,  if  the  question  of 
war  is  to  be  considered,  not  from  the  view  of  right, 
duty,  and  law,  which  still,  in  my  opinion,  is  a  decisive 
one ;  but,  from  the  view  of  mere  policy,  then  I  believe 
that  you  must  not  shrink  back  from  the  mere  word 
^  war.'  There  is  no  harm  in  the  mere  empty  word ; 
three  little  letters,  very  innocent,  that's  all !" 

It  is  not  for  others  to  reconcile  with  this  passage, 
the  conviction  he  expressed  in  connection  with  it,  that 
the  course  he  recommended  would  not  lead  to  a  Rus- 


OF  INTERVENTION.  35 

sian  war.  None  but  a  novice  in  political  affairs  can, 
for  a  moment,  telieve  that  we  could  attempt  to  en- 
force his  doctrine,  without  going  to  war.  It  is  pre- 
posterous to  suppose  that  Russia  or  Austria,  or  any 
European  State,  would  submit  to  dictation  from  us. 
And  the  advocates  of  the  new  dogma  would  manifest 
more  respect  for  the  intelligence  of  the  country,  by  a 
candid  admission  of  the  truth  on  this  point.  Had 
Kossuth  seen  fit  to  pursue  a  different  course,  simply 
to  plead  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  race,  and  solicit 
help  for  them,  he  would  have  had  the  whole  country 
at  his  feet,  and  "  material  aid"  would  have  ffowed  in 
upon  him,  not,  as  now,  in  driblets,  but  in  a  generous 
flood.  But  he  sadly  mistook  his  mission.  Under  a 
most  mischievous  bias,  confirmed  if  not  communicated 
by  certain  inflammatory  speeches  from  Americans 
abroad,  he  came  here,  as  a  second  Peter  the  Hermit, 
to  preach  up  a  crusade  against  all  absolute  govern- 
ments, and  against  Russia  in  particular.  He  has  tra- 
versed the  country  to  get  up  a  public  sentiment  which 
shall  coerce  the  government  into  the  adoption  of  his 
plans.  He  is  exerting  his  utmost  abilities  to  bring  us 
into  a  position  utterly  alien  from  all  our  traditions, 
and  which  could  not  fail  to  sup]3ly  the  European  pow- 
ers with  ample  pretexts  for  intermeddling  in  our  af- 
fairs. In  a  word,  if  he  could  succeed  in  his  object,  the 
actual  result  would  be  to  convert  us  into  a  great  mili- 
tary nation,  with  whatever  that  might  entail  of  ambi- 
tion, vice,  faction,  wars,  suffering,  public  debt,  finan- 
cial disasters,  and  the  endless  train  of  calamities  and 


36  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

crimes  inseparable  from  an  aggressive  policy.  It  is 
too  much  to  expect  that  we  should  bear  all  this  in 
silence.  Neither  the  wrongs  of  Hungary,  nor  the  du- 
ties of  hospitality,  forbid  our  protesting  in  the  most 
emphatic  terms  against  this  ungrateful  abuse  of  our 
kindness.  When  we  want  advice  as  to  the  manage- 
ment of  our  affairs,  we  will  seek  it ;  and  we  must  re- 
serve the  right  of  choosing  our  counsellors.  The  in- 
delicacy of  this  interference  finds  no  mitigation  either 
in  the  indulgence  with  which  it  has  been  treated,  or 
in  our  past  relations  with  Hungary.  In  the  manner 
of  it  there  is  nothing  to  commend,  everything  to  cen- 
sure. The  conduct  of  our  foreign  affairs  belongs  to 
the  government,  not  to  the  people  in  mass  meetings. 
If  he  had  a  diplomatic  measure  to  propose,  it  was  per- 
fectly competent  to  him  to  submit  it  to  the  existing 
administration,  and  they  must  have  disposed  of  it  on 
their  responsibihty  to  God  and  the  country.  But, 
knowing  that  this  would  be  fatal  to  his  chimerical 
project,  and  presuming  on  the  fertile  resources  of  his 
oratory,  he  ignores  the  functions  of  the  government, 
and  brings  his  suit  before  an  unauthorized  and  irre- 
sponsible tribunal.  He  has  even  gone  so  far  on  a  re- 
cent occasion  as  to  use  language  like  this : — 

"  My  second  reason  for  forming  these  associations, 
is,  that  tlie  cheers  of  the  2')eo^le  are  not  recorded  in 
Washington  city ;  but  when  I  can  show  the  records 
of  these  associations ;  when  they  have  joined  together 
and  act  in  unison  ;  when  they  consist  of  hundreds  of 
thousands,  perhaps  millions  of  people;  when  out  of 


OF  INTERVENTION.  37^ 

the  small  drops  of  individual  sympathy  a  vast  ocean 
has  been  formed,  then,  indeed,  though  their  cheers 
may  not  be  weighed,  their  names  and  influence  will 
be."* 

I  will  not  trust  myself  to  comment  on  this  extra- 
ordinary language,  beyond  a  single  observation. 
What  must  be  the  capacity  of  a  nation  for  free  insti- 
tutions, the  ostensible  head  of  which  can  permit  him- 
self to  prostitute  the  sympathy  and  confidence  of  a 
great  people  to  the  purpose  of  arraying  that  people 
against  their  government,  and  that  on  a  most  delicate 
and  complex  question  originated  by  himself,  and  on 
his  application  alone  demanding  an  answer  ?  This 
question  may  do  the  Hungarians  injustice,  but  it  is 
impossible  to  repress  the  unwelcome  apprehensions 
awakened  by  observing  how  ill  their  late  governor 
seems  to  understand  the  reciprocal  relations  of  a  free 
government  and  its  citizens. 

It  is,  unhappily,  true  that  numerous  convocations 
have  voted  their  adhesion  to  the  new  doctrine,  and, 
in  some  instances,  their  desire  to  have  our  govern- 
ment enforce  it  at  all  hazards.  It  is  this  circum- 
stance which  gives  the  movement  its  importance,  and 
justifies  even  the  pulpit  in  resisting  it.  The  Chris- 
tian ministry  is  appointed  to  look  after  the  interests 
of  morality  and  religion.  Nothing  is  so  disastrous  to 
these  interests  as  war,  and  if  we  are  ever  called  upon 
to  co-operate  with  our  fellow-citizens  in  averting  this 
terrible  calamity,  we  are  warranted  in  doing  it,  when 

*  Speech  at  Salem,  Ohio. 


38  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

a  zealous  apostle  of  war  is  stealing  the  hearts  of  the 
nation,  and  working  them  up  to  a  crusade,  the  folly 
of  which  has  no  parallel  since  Western  Europe  poured 
itself  in  a  mighty  avalanche  upon  Palestine  for  the 
recovery  of  the  holy  sepulchre.  And  there  is  the 
more  reason  why  sober-minded  men  of  all  professions 
should  frown  upon  this  agitation,  because  there  is  so 
much  material  in  the  country  which  can  by  skilful 
management  be  made  subservient  to  it. 

It  has,  for  example,  even  been  used  as  an  argument 
in  favor  of  the  scheme,  that  we  have  a  very  large  body 
of  foreigners  amongst  us  who  must  feel  a  deep  inte- 
rest in  the  spread  of  liberal  principles  abroad.  This 
reference  is  to  the  Germans,  Poles,  and  others  from 
continental  Europe,  many  of  whom  have  been  driven 
here  by  political  convulsions.  Among  them,  unfor- 
tunately, there  is  a  large  sprinkling  of  the  wildest 
radicals — demagogues  in  politics  and  atheists  in  reli- 
gion. 

It  is  said  that  there  are  about  one  hundred  German 
newspapers  in  the  United  States,  nearly  all  of  which 
belong  to  the  socialist  school,  and  advocate  the  worst 
doctrines  of  the  socialist  creed.  Some  of  these  men, 
almost  before  they  can  speak  our  language,  are  plot- 
ting the  subversion  of  the  very  institutions  which 
have  afforded  them  a  refuge  from  oppression,  possibly 
a  shelter  from  the  gallows.  One  of  their  associations 
in  Richmond,  a  few  months  since,  published  a  pro- 
gramme comprising  the  heads  of  "  Reform"  they  mean 
to  aim  at.     The  following  is  a  sample : — 


OF  INTERVENTION".  39 

"We  demand  the  abolition  of  the  presidency;  the 
abolition  of  the  senate,  so  that  the  legislature  shall 
consist  of  only  one  branch ;  the  right  of  the  people  to 
dismiss  their  representatives  at  their  pleasure;  all 
lawsuits  to  be  conducted  without  expense;  the  abo- 
lition of  all  neutrality ;  intervention  in  favor  of  every 
people  struggling  for  liberty ;  abolition  of  laws  for  the 
observance  of  the  Sabbath;  abolition  of  prayers  in 
congress;  abolition  of  oath  upon  the  Bible;  abolition 
of  land  monopoly;  taking  possession  of  the  railroads 
by  the  state;  abolition  of  the  Christian  system  of 
punishment,  and  introduction  of  the  human  ameliora- 
tion system;  abolition  of  capital  punishment." 

The  association  which  put  forth  this  platform  ^'  has 
its  ramifications  Avitli  similar  societies  in  all  parts  of 
the  Union,  and  they  pledge  themselves  to  work 
unitedly  to  accomplish  these  objects." 

It  would  be  ver}'^  unjust  to  the  Hungarian  leader 
to  connect  his  name  with  these  nefarious  proceedings. 
In  the  speeches  he  delivered  in  England,  he  dis- 
claimed all  sympathy  with  socialism,  politically  or 
religiously,  and  is  entitled  to  the  full  benefit  of  those 
disclaimers.  But  when  we  are  urged  to  adopt  his 
favorite  principle  respecting  intervention,  as  an  act  of 
justice  to  the  Europeans  who  live  amongst  us,  it  is 
quite  pertinent  to  bring  forward  the  disorganizing 
radicalism  of  these  associations  in  bar  of  the  argument. 
They  reveal  the  remarkable  fact  that  we  have,  in  the 
very  heart  of  our  population,  a  disciplined  band  of 
revolutionists.     We  have   been  accustomed  to  think 


40  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

that  our  system,  whatever  else  might  happen  to  it, 
was  beyond  the  reach  of  revolution;  that  its  funda- 
mental principles,  which  are  as  little  affected  by  the 
common  agitations  of  party  as  the  rocky  bed  of  the 
ocean  by  the  fluctuations  of  the  waves,  could  never 
be  called  in  question.  But  it  seems,  in  the  judgment 
of  these  alien  anarchists,  nothing  is  settled.  The 
whole  shij)  must  be  dismantled,  her  very  hull  broken 
up,  and  everything,  from  keel  to  royal-mast,  rebuilt. 
This  is  what  they  modestly  call  "  Reform,"  but  what, 
if  it  has  its  proper  name,  can  only  be  styled  Destruc- 
tion. To  reason  with  such  men  is,  of  course,  not  to 
he  thought  of  To  entrust  them  with  political  power 
would  be  suicidal.  They  affiliate  irresistibly  with 
discontent  and  turbulence.  Like  the  stormy-petrel, 
the  tempest  is  their  j)roper  element.  They  hate  our 
prudence  in  shunning  foreign  alliances.  Everything 
that  looks  towards  an  interference  with  the  affairs  of 
Europe  will  have  their  staunch  advocacy.  They  may 
not  like  the  Hungarian's  character,  but  they  will 
relish  his  project,  and  would  relish  it  still  more  if  they 
could  infuse  more  radicalism  into  it.  If  we  are  not 
dragged  into  the  first  war  that  occurs  across  the  water, 
it  will  not  be  their  fault.  Do  we  well  to  countenance 
a  scheme  which  would  find  in  men  of  this  stamp  its 
readiest  supporters,  and  which  they  would  be  certain 
to  use  to  our  detriment  and  that  of  other  nations  ? 

Then,  again,  there  is  tJie  vainglorious  spirit  which 
has  diffused  its  vicious  leaven  through  our  whole 
national  character,  and  which  all  politicians,  foreign 


OF  INTERVENTION.  41 

and  domestic,  can  play  upon  so  skilfully.  This  is,  by 
eminence,  ilie  lever  which  Kossuth  has  wielded  with 
such  signal  effect,  from  his  speech  at  Staten  Island  to 
his  last  speech  in  Ohio — nay,  which  he  began  to  ply 
before  he  left  England.  It  is  the  fuze  he  keej)s  always 
lighted;  and  whether  he  has  before  him  the  Bar  or 
the  populace,  the  women  or  the  children,  our  grave 
legislators  or  still  graver  divines,  he  thrusts  in  the 
match,  and  is  sure  to  find  tinder.  No  people  could 
be  more  conscious  of  the  grandeur  of  their  position 
than  we  are.  True  to  our  lineage,  we  never  lapse 
into  the  weakness  of  disparaging  our  resources  and 
achievements.  What  we  have  done  is  considerable, 
but  it  is  nothing  to  what  we  can  do  and  mean  to  do. 
Having  subdued  this  continent,  we  are  now,  if  we 
may  trust  our  popular  orators,  to  set  about  the  re- 
generation of  Europe.  Europe,  it  is  true,  has  felt  our 
influence,  and  is  feeling  it  through  ten  thousand  un- 
obtrusive channels.  But  these  processes  are  too  slow 
for  this  magnificent  nineteenth  century,  and  this  still 
more  magnificent  country.  We  are  called  to  more 
summary  action.  Twenty  millions  of  American  free- 
men are  surely  equal  to  two  hundred  and  thirty  mil- 
lions of  Europeans,  and  are  bound  to  see  that  their 
sovereigns  treat  them  well  and  help  them  on,  as  fast 
as  possible,  towards  republican  institutions.  This  is 
our  mission.  We  have  coasted  along  the  shore  long 
enough;  a  richer  harvest  than  that  which  tempted 
Columbus  invites  us,  and  we  must  turn  our  prows  to 
the  ocean.     Henceforth  our  government  becomes  a 


42  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

grand  Collegium  de  'propaganda  lihertate,  and  we  go 
on  to  our  destiny  as  the  renovators  of  the  world ! 

Is  it  not  humiliating  that,  with  multitudes  of  our 
countrymen,  badinage  like  this  should  be  sober  prose  ? 
Yet  so  it  is :  for  it  is  precisely  this  material  which 
forms  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  most  effective  speeches, 
whenever  our  relations  with  the  old  world  come  under 
discussion.  And  it  is  the  prevalence  of  this  spirit,  so 
capable  of  being  wrought  upon  for  evil,  which  should 
put  the  conservatism  of  the  country  upon  an  organ- 
ized and  resolute  resistance  to  the  visionary  scheme 
we  are  combating. 

The  manifest  absurdity  of  this  scheme,  and  its  ruin- 
ous tendency,  in  the  naked  form  of  "  intervention  to 
prevent  intervention,"  have  led  to  the  preparation  of 
a  substitute.  It  is  proposed  simply  to  notify  the 
cabinets  of  the  world,  that  we  shall  regard  any  inter- 
ference by  one  nation  in  the  domestic  concerns  of 
another,  as  a  breach  of  international  law — leaving  it 
to  be  decided  as  cases  arise,  whether  to  follow  this 
declaration  by  protest,  by  an  appeal  to  arms,  or  by 
nothing  at  all. 

This  question  I  am  not  called  upon  to  discuss. 
But  there  are  two  observations  which  may  be  made 
upon  it.  The  first  is,  that  nations  cannot  play  at 
mock-fighting.  In  the  lexicography  of  diplomatists, 
names  are  things.  Protocols  and  protests  do  not 
necessarily  involve  more  stringent  measures.  But  a 
cabinet  which  is  jealous  of  its  dignity,  will  be  chary 


OF  INTERVENTION.  43 

of  its  menaces.     It  is  as  dangerous  for  prime  minis- 
ters as  it  is  for  children  to  play  with  edge-tools. 

The  other  observation  is,  that  all  demonstrations  of 
the  kind  referred  to  on  the  part  of  a  great  power,  con- 
vey to  oppressed  nations  an  assurance  of  something 
more  than  naked  s^Tnpathy.  Their  tendency  is  to  en- 
courage such  nations  to  revolt.  How  far  this  may  be 
proper  in  any  given  case,  is  not  now  the  question. 
But  common  humanity,  not  to  speak  of  justice,  is 
outraged,  when  a  cabinet  stimulates  a  people  to  strike 
for  their  freedom,  and  then  denies  them  the  succors 
they  had  on  fair  moral  grounds,  if  not  by  formal 
stipulation,  been  warranted  to  expect. 

It  is  not  denied,  however,  that  cases  may  arise  in 
which  intervention  in  this  form,  and  even  with  some- 
thing more  significant  than  parchment  manifestoes, 
would  be  both  our  right  and  our  duty.  If  the  United 
States  occupied  the  temtory  which  constitutes  the 
domain  of  Turkey,  or  that  of  Prussia,  the  very  case 
which  has  occasioned  the  present  crusade  might  have 
proved  one  of  this  description.  The  question  then 
would  have  been,  whether  the  law  of  self-protection 
did  not  require  us  to  repel,  by  whatever  means,  the 
barbarous  assault  of  Russia  upon  the  liberties  of 
Hungary.  Situated  as  we  are.  our  abstract  right  to 
interpose,  should  the  same  emergency  occur  a  second 
time,  may  be  conceded.  But  will  any  sane  man  con- 
tend that  the  possession  of  a  right  carries  with  it  an 
oljligation  to  the  constant  exercise  of  that  right  ?  Let 
this  principle  be  adopted  in  the  administration  of  our 


44  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

foreign  affairs ;  that,  wherever  we  have  the  right,  we 
are  bound  to  interfere  to  prevent  interference ;  and  it 
needs  no  prophet  to  foretell  that  it  would  be  to  us 
"  the  great  Serbonian  bog  betwixt  Damiata  and  Mount 
Casius,  where  armies  whole  have  sunk."  Besides,  an 
abstract  political  right  may  be  so  exercised  as  to  in- 
volve a  moral  wrong.  Before  we  can  be  justified  in 
arraigning  another  state  for  its  misdeeds,  a  fair  pre- 
sumption must  be  made  out,  that  the  effort  will  do 
more  good  than  harm.  "  The  power  inadequate  to 
all  other  things,  is  often  more  than  sufficient  to  do 
mischief"*  And  the  advocates  of  the  scheme  now 
before  the  country,  will  have  to  tax  their  ingenuity  to 
show  that  any  interference  of  ours  between  Hungary 
and  Russia,  would  not  turn  out  to  be  simply  "  a  power 
to  do  mischief."  There  are  individuals  among  them — 
men  not  apt  to  be  carried  away  by  dreams  and  \dsions 
— who  believe  that  this  measure  would  be  highly  bene- 
ficial to  Hungary.  But  even  if  this  could  be  estab- 
lished, it  would  remain  to  be  proved,  that  the  ultimate 
consequences  would  not  be  most  disastrous  to  our- 
selves, and  to  the  general  amelioration  of  mankind. 
It  is  too  evident  to  admit  of  debate  (the  iteration  of 
the  sentiment  may  be  excused),  that  we  owe  the 
elevated  position  we  have  attained  among  the  nations, 
in  no  small  measure,  to  the  policy  we  have  pursued 
with  inflexible  rigor,  of  standing  aloof  from  their 
quarrels,  and  having  as  little  political  connection  with 
them  as  possible.     Is  this  a  time  to  abandon  a  policy 

*  Burke. 


OF  miERYENTION.  45 

wliich  has,  under  God,  consolidated  our  institutions, 
developed  our  resources,  spread  over  our  vast  territory 
the  symbols  and  appliances  of  peace  and  plenty,  intel- 
ligence and  virtue,  poured  into  our  lap  the  riches  of 
every  chnie,  secured  us  the  respect  of  every  people 
and  cabinet,  and  made  our  name,  not  merely  a  talis- 
man of  hope,  but  a  tower  of  strength,  to  the  oppressed 
and  the  injured  of  all  lands?     When  in  answer  to 
this,  hereditary  vanity  or  foreign  adulation  cites  these 
very  facts  as  a  reason  for  repudiating  the  maxims  of 
our  fathers,  does  not  history  counsel  us  against  listen- 
ing to  their  seducing  sophistries?     Do  not  the  moss- 
covered  ruins  of  gorgeous  cities  and  the  mausoleums 
of  empires,  scattered  all  along  the  track  of  time,  warn 
us  with  an  eloquence  surpassing  all  human  oratory 
against  exchanging  the  steady,  vigilant  care  of  our 
own  interests,  for  an  ambitious  intermeddUng  in  the 
concerns  of  other  nations?     That  those  nations  are 
brought  so  much  nearer  to  us  than  formerly,  so  far 
from  strengthening  the  adverse  argument,  is  an  addi- 
tional reason  why  we  should  not  cultivate  too  great 
an  intimacy  with  them.     Just  in  ~  proportion  as  the 
Atlantic  is  narrowed  to  a  "  ferry,"  shall  we  be  swept 
towards  that  dangerous  ''vortex"  of  which  Washington 
admonished  us.     The  currents  which  bear  us  in  that 
direction  will  steadily  increase  in  volume  and  velocity. 
Setting  aside  the  augmenting  influence  of  commerce 
and  travel,  the  annual  transfer  of  three  or  four  hun- 
dred thousand  Europeans  to  our  soil,  will  foster  the 
disposition  already  too  apparent  here,  to  interfere  in 


46  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

the  politics  of  that  continent.  Appeals  for  interven- 
tion are  already  multiplying.  Before  the  ink  was 
fairly  dry  which  recorded  in  the  official  journals  the 
reception  of  Kossuth  by  Congress,  the  honors  paid  him 
were  urged  before  the  Senate  as  a  "  precedent"  for  our 
"intervening"  with  another  cabinet  in  a  case  of  alleged 
oppression,  and  petitions  were  presented  for  an  act  of 
mediation  with  still  a  third  sovereign,  in  behalf  of 
certain  of  his  aggrieved  subjects.  Once  fairly  inaugu- 
rated, this  policy  will  mature  as  rapidly  as  Jonah's 
gourd;  though  not,  perhaps,  to  wither  so  soon.  We 
shall  need,  if  not  a  new  department  at  Washington, 
at  least  a  new  bureau,  to  conduct  our  "  Intervention 
account"  with  foreign  governments ;  and  those  govern- 
ments, not  to  be  backward  in  reciprocating  such 
favors,  will  see  that  our  Congressional  debates  are 
enlivened  by  the  frequent  introduction  of  proposals  to 
assist  us  in  managing  our  private  affairs.  Possibly 
this  system  might  ave^-age  better  results  to  the  great 
family  of  nations.  The  Austrians,  and  the  Chinese, 
and  some  others,  might  breathe  more  freely  under  a 
sovereignty  shared  by  our  President;  but  it  is  not 
quite  so  clear  that  we  should  be  among  the  gainers. 
And  as  this  is  a  point  of  some  little  moment  to  us,  it 
may  be  well  for  our  legislators  to  look  into  it  before 
they  adopt  the  new  code. 

The  tone  of  these  remarks  may  not  accord  with  the 
exceeding  gravity  of  the  subject.  For  who  can  con- 
template the  condition  of  Europe,  without  shuddering 
to  think  of  the  consequences  which  must  follow,  if,  at 


OF  INTERVENTION.  47 

such  a  crisis,  we  go  forth  under  the  impulse  of  a  gener- 
ous but  illusive  knight-errantry,  to  implicate  ourselves 
in  her  conflicts?  There  is  a  graphic  passage  in  one 
of  Washington's  letters,*  so  applicable  to  the  present 
juncture,  that  it  might  seem  to  have  been  written  for 
the  occasion. 

''  With  respect  to  the  nations  of  Europe,  their  situa- 
tion appears  so  awful,  that  nothing  short  of  Omnipo- 
tence can  predict  the  issue;  although  every  human 
mind  must  feel  for  the  miseries  it  endures.  Our  course 
is  plain ;  they  who  run  may  read  it.  Theirs  is  so  be- 
wildered and  dark,  so  entangled  and  embarrassed,  and 
so  obviously  under  the  influence  of  intrigue,  that  one 
would  suppose,  if  anything  could  open  the  eyes  of  our 
misled  citizens,  that  the  deplorable  situation  of  those 
people  could  not  fail  to  eflect  it." 

What  is  their  condition  now  but  that  of  a  boiling 
caldron?  There  is  no  one  sentiment  in  which  men 
of  all  ranks  and  professions,  of  all  creeds  and  ^^arties, 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  are  more  thoroughly 
agreed,  than  that  Europe  is  on  the  eve  of  a  general 
war.  This  is  one  of  the  favorite  common-places  of  the 
Magyar.  He  dilates  upon  it  in  every  speech.  He 
depicts  it  prophetically  as  the  grand  contest  which  is 
to  decide  the  fate  of  the  nations.  He  declares  that  the 
struggle  has  already  begun,  in  the  late  usurpation  in 
France;  and  professes  to  be  expecting  letters  by  every 
steamer,  recalling  him  to  take  his  proper  post  in  con- 
ducting it.     And  yet,  in  the  same  breath  in  which  he 

*  To  Oliver  Wolcott,  May  29,  1797. 


48  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

delineates  the  terrific  scenes  of  this  exterminating  war, 
he  calls  upon  us,  "raising  our  gigantic  arm  in  a  com- 
manding attitude,  to  speak  these  words  to  the  Russian 
Bear,  'Keep  back!'  and  to  the  Czar,  'Hands  off!'"* 
Does  the  man  think  we  are  demented?  Can  he  ima- 
gine that  the  cheers  which  these  inflammatory  appeals 
elicit  from  masses  crazed  by  the  sorcery  of  his  elo- 
quence, indicate  the  sober  convictions  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  ?  Does  his  familiarity  with  history 
supply  him  with  a  solitary  example  of  national  folly 
and  insanity  at  all  comparable  to  that  which  this  na- 
tion would  present,  should  we  accede  to  his  counsel? 
Or  can  he  cite  a  single  other  instance  in  which  an  ex- 
patriated stranger,  the  guest  of  a  great  and  prosperous 
people,  has  jDresumed  to  offer  himself  to  that  people 
as  the  expositor  of  their  foreign  policy,  in  place  of 
one  who  had  earned,  by  every  tie  which  wisdom,  virtue, 
patriotism,  magnanimity,  and  a  long  life  of  disin- 
terested and  arduous  service  in  the  field  and  the  cabi- 
net could  confer,  a  title  to  that  most  venerable  name, 
the  "  Father  of  his  country  ?" 

And  with  what  view,  after  all,  are  we  asked  to 
commit  our  bark,  freighted  as  it  is  with  the  best 
hopes  of  humanity,  to  this  treacherous  sea,  at  the 
moment  when  earth  and  heaven  are  blackening  and 
quaking  with  the  approaching  hurricane  ?  Why,  since 
the  storm  must  come,  and  a  whole  continent  is  to  reel 
under  its  Titanic  convulsions,  and  so  many  ancient 
and  massive  structures  are  to  be  shattered  to  pieces, 

*  Speed)  in  Baltimore. 


OF  IXTERVENTION.  49 

why  should  we,  of  dehberation  and  choice,  rush  into 
the  turmoil  and  invite  its  fury  ?  The  only  reply  to 
these  questions,  is  the  following  :  "  The  freedom  of  the 
nations  is  confided  to  your  custody,  and  fidelity  to 
your  trust  demands  of  you  this  sacrifice."  The  answer 
is  worthy  of  the  reasoning  which  suggests  it ;  most 
unworthy  of  the  sacred  cause  it  is  designed  to  subserve. 
Not  to  note  tlie  subtle  appeal  it  makes  to  our  vanity, 
it  proceeds  upon  the  pernicious  fallacy,  that  mere 
political  liberty — the  enfranchisement  of  the  masses 
and  an  equality  of  civil  rights — comprises  all  the  ele- 
ments of  national  stability  and  happiness;  and  hence, 
that  republican  institutions  can  be  propagated  by 
diplomacy  or  the  sword.  A  more  Utopian  heresy  in 
politics  was  never  propounded.  It  has  its  ecclesiasti- 
cal prototype  in  the  scheme  of  those  zealous  princes 
of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  who  put  themselves 
at  the  head  of  their  regiments  and  dragooned  whole 
tribes  of  savages  into  the  Church.  Treading  in  the 
steps  of  these  warlike  evangelists,  there  is  a  modern 
school  of  political  reformers,  whose  prime  conception 
of  freedom,  is,  that  it  consists  in  democratic  charters 
and  usages ;  and  that,  wherever  these  can  be  estab- 
lished, a  nation  is  put  on  the  high  road  to  prosperity 
and  renown.  As  reasonable  to  argue  that  the  true 
way  to  insure  order  in  our  public  schools,  would  be 
to  convert  them  into  pure  democracies  by  deposing 
all  the  teachers  and  remitting  their  functions  to  the 
2X)sse  comitatU'S.  Nay,  this  is  doing  our  boys  injustice. 
4 


50  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

For  if  there  is  a  single  school  in  which  the  pupils 
would  not  display  more  capacity  for  self-government 
than  the  French  nation  has  done  since  the  bloody 
epoch  of  '93,  the  Board  of  Controllers  should  know 
the  reason.  To  go  back  but  a  very  short  time,  four 
years  ago  to  a  month  (as  the  speaker  can  testify  from 
personal  observation)  "  Liberty-trees"  were  planted 
in  Paris,  and  the  other  chief  towns  of  the  new-born 
"  Republic,"  amidst  the  pceans  of  the  populace  and 
with  sacerdotal  benisons.  But  they  would  not  grow. 
After  the  buds  which  were  on  them  died,  which  they 
did  very  soon,  not  one  of  them  ever  sprouted.  And 
within  the  last  two  months,  for  aught  that  appears  to 
the  contrary,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  same  populace, 
and  with  the  benedictions  of  the  same  priests,  they 
have  been  chopped  down  and  made  into  bonfires.  It 
was  an  idle  experiment,  on  a  par  with  the  most  ab- 
surd of  those  which  are  recorded  of  amateur  cultiva- 
tors. You  might  as  well  plant  the  palmetto  in  Iceland, 
or  the  Victoria  Regia  in  the  heart  of  Sahara,  as  '•  Lib- 
erty-trees" in  a  soil  which  has  never  been  broken  up 
and  mixed  with  the  rich  mould  of  Gospel-truth.  The 
tree  of  life  was  in  the  beginning  placed  side  by  side 
with  the  tree  of  knowledge :  and  social  reformers  should 
have  learned  before  now,  that  what  "  God  thus  joined 
together,  man  may  not  put  asunder."  In  our  soil, 
they  never  have  been  "put  asunder."  From  the 
first  settlement  of  the  continent  to  the  present  hour, 
we  have  gone  upon  the  principle,  that  an  ignorant 
or  a  vicious  people  cannot  be  a  free  people. 


OF  INTERVEXTION.  51 

Nor  was  it  in  this  alone  that  the  preparation  of 
the  North  American  colonists,  for  liberty,  consisted. 
They  were  no  strangers  either  to  the  science  of  gov- 
ernment or  to  the  exercise  of  civil  franchises.  Their 
protracted  conflicts  with  the  crown,  and  the  pecnliar 
exigencies  growing  out  of  their  separation  into  isolated 
communities,  each  of  which  had  to  manage  its  own 
affairs,  had  made  them  thoroughly  conversant  with 
the  principles  of  just  administration.  They  came  out 
of  the  revolutionary  war,  therefore,  trained  to  enjoy 
and  improve  the  independence  their  valor  had  won. 

So  also  in  England,  the  work  of  reform  has  been 
gradual  but  progressive.  From  the  memorable  day 
on  which  the  barons  Avrested  Magna  Charta  from  the 
perfidious  John  at  Runnymede  until  now,  the  popular 
element  has  been,  on  the  whole,  and  with  many  tem- 
porary reverses,  gaining  strength.  Power  is  always 
sensitive  and  tenacious ;  and  history  presents  no  finer 
study  than  the  sublime  contest  which  has  been  going 
on  in  that  country  for  several  centuries,  and  of  late 
with  increased  energy,  between  prerogative  and  free- 
dom— the  crown  and  the  aristocracy  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  people  on  the  other.  Nature  supplies  an  apt 
illustration  of  it,  in  the  dash  of  the  ocean  against  a 
majestic  cliff — assailing  it  from  year  to  year  with  the 
steady  flux  and  reflux  of  the  tide — now  lashing  it 
with  storms — and  ever  and  anon  gathering  up  its 
mighty  surges,  and  discharging  them  upon  it  with 
a  fury  which  makes  it  quiver  to  its  topmost  pinnacle. 


52  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

Particle  b}^  particle,  crag  by  crag,  the  granite  barrier 
succumbs,  and  buries  itself  in  the  bosom  of  the  waters. 
And  step  by  step — never  without  resistance — some- 
times from  conviction — often  from  policy — and  still 
oftener  from  fear — but  still,  step  by  step,  power  in 
Great  Britain  has  bowed  to  right;  prerogative  has  put 
off  its  purple,  and  come  down  reluctantly  from  its 
throne,  and  diffused  itself  among  the  people.  Earnest 
patriots  cannot  brook  this  process.  It  is  too  tedious. 
They  would  have  everything  at  once.  But  Provi- 
dence is  wiser  and  kinder  than  they.  For  the  result 
has  been,  that  in  England  the  wheel  of  reform  never 
goes  backward.  Obliged  to  contest  every  inch  of 
ground,  the  people  come  to  understand  and  to  value 
their  rights;  and  when  they  get  them,  they  know 
what  to  do  with  them.  Their  progress,  though  mod- 
erate, is  sure.  If  they  are  strangers  to  the  ecstasy 
their  mercurial  neighbors  have  sometimes  felt  in  cele- 
brating the  apotheosis  of  Liberty,  they  are  no  less 
strangers  to  their  despondency  and  terror,  on  seeing 
their  adored  idol  trampled  to  death  in  a  night  by  a 
mob,  or  garotted  by  a  military  usurper. 

It  may  not  be  necessary  to  fortify  the  position  I  am 
maintaining,  by  further  examples,  but  there  are  facts 
of  a  very  recent  date  bearing  on  this  point,  too  in- 
structive to  be  omitted.  If  these  facts  prove  any- 
thing, it  is  that  the  populations  of  the  continent  are 
as  yet  without  that  training  which  would  make  our 
freedom  a  blessing  to  tliem — that  if  we  could,  within 


_J 


OF  IXTEEYEXTION.  53 

three  months,  reduplicate  our  institutions  all  over 
Europe,  in  place  of  the  existing  monarchies,  it  would 
require  a  standing  army  as  large  as  our  aggregate  body 
of  militia  to  keep  them  a-going  for  five  years.  The 
year  18-48,  the  most  remarkable  and  pregnant  year  in 
the  chronicles  of  the  other  hemisphere  for  three  centu- 
ries, witnessed  a  general  movement  throughout  Europe 
towards  the  establishment  of  liberal  institutions.  In 
France,  the  monarchy  was  thrown  down  by  a  single 
popular  outbreak,  and  a  republic  reared  upon  its 
ruins.  In  Sicily,  a  constitution  was  promised,  though 
not  actually  framed,  by  the  most  savage  tyrant  who 
disgraces  a  throne  in  Christendom.  An  insurrection 
in  Munich  coerced  a  profli,sfate  king  to  abdicate  his 
crown.  Another  in  Berlin  extorted  from  the  capri- 
cious and  incomprehensible  king  of  Prussia  most  ex- 
plicit stipulations  touching  the  charter  his  subjects 
demanded,  and  which  he  had  "violated  his  oath  by 
withholding.  The  minor  German  States  adopted  de- 
cisive measures  for  reconstructing  their  long-lost  unity 
and  nationality.  The  Austrians  were  driven  out  of 
!Milan,  and  a  provisional  government  established  in 
Lombardy.  Even  Vienna  was  surrendered  to  the 
people,  and  a  constitution  vrrung  from  the  reluctant 
and  autocratic  emperor.  While,  in  Italy,  the  phenom- 
enon was  presented  of  a  Pope,  the  professed  friend 
of  popular  rights  and  an  avowed  advocate  of  progress. 
It  was  here,  indeed,  this  grand  movement  commenced. 
The  way  had  been  preparing  under  the  pontificate  of 


54  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

Gregory  XVI.  The  only  nation  blessed  with  an  in- 
fallible ruler,  was  ruled  so  badly  that  their  grievances 
had  become  intolerable ;  and  it  was  for  Pius  IX.,  on 
his  accession  to  the  tiara,  to  choose  between  identify- 
ing himself  with  the  mass  of  his  people,  and  mitigat- 
ing their  burdens,  or  putting  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  Jesuit  party,  with  the  certainty  of  encountering 
a  revolution.  He  decided  for  the  former — not  exclu- 
sively, we  must  believe,  from  motives  of  policy,  but 
in  obedience  to  the  instincts  of  a  heart  not  a  stranger 
to  humane  and  benevolent  sentiments.  He  saw,  for 
who  in  Italy  could  help  seeing,  that  the  people  were 
ground  down  under  insufferable  oppressions ;  and  he 
resolved  to  ameliorate  their  condition.  Addressing 
himself  with  energy  to  the  Augean  task  of  removing 
abuses,  he  set  about  reducing  the  taxes,  abolishing 
arbitrary  imprisonments,  regulating  the  administra- 
tion of  the  finances,  and  promoting  popular  education. 
He  granted  amnesties  to  political  offenders ;  an- 
nounced his  determination  to  found  a  representative 
government;  and  invited  a  congress  of  influential 
laymen  from  the  different  States  of  the  Church  to 
assist  him  in  arranging  the  details  of  a  constitution. 
The  Italians  were  in  an  ecstasy.  The  despots  of 
Europe  in  a  frenzy.  The  people  everywhere  clamor- 
ous in  their  applause  of  the  new  Pontiff,  and  no-where 
more  so  than  among  ourselves.  Enormous  mass  meet- 
ings were  held  in  our  cities,  at  which  laudatory  ad- 
dresses to  Plo  Nona  were  adopted,  and  Protestants  and 


OF  INTERVENTION.  55 

Romanists  vied  with  each  other  in  celebrating  the 
magnanimity  of  the  "greatest  Reformer  of  the  age." 
And  what  has  been  the  issue  of  all  these  auspi- 
cious demonstrations  ?  What  the  meridian  of  the 
day  which  dawned  so  brightly  upon  Europe,  and  gave 
promise  of  a  universal  regeneration  from  the  German 
Ocean  to  the  Mediterranean — from  the  Straits  of  Dover 
to  the  Dardanelles  ?  In  the  language  of  the  North  Bri- 
tish Review,  with  "scarcely  an  exception,  everything 
has  fallen  back  into  its  old  condition.  In  nearly 
every  state  the  old  demon  of  despotism  has  returned, 
bringing  with  it  worse  devils  than  itself.  Hungary 
and  Hesse  are  crushed;  Bavaria  has  been  degraded 
into  the  brutal  tool  of  a  more  brutal  tyrant;  the 
Prussian  people  are  sullen,  desponding,  and  disarmed, 
and  the  Prussian  government  sunk  into  a  terrible 
abyss  of  degradation ;  Austria  has  a  new  emperor, 
more  insolently  despotic  than  any  of  his  predecessors 
for  many  a  long  year;  and  throughout  Germany  con- 
stitutional liberty  has  been  effectually  trampled  out. 
In  Italy,  Venice  and  Lombardy  have  been  recon- 
quered, and  are  now  experiencing  the  vce  victis;  Tus- 
cany is  worse  because  more  Austrian  than  before, 
and  alarmed  at  the  peril  she  has  incurred ;  the  small 
duchies  are  as  bad  as  ever — they  could  not  be  worse; 
the  Pope,  terrified  out  of  his  benevolence  and  his  pa- 
triotism, having  fled  from  the  Vatican  in  disgrace,  has 
been  restored  by  foreign  arms,  and  the  old  ecclesiastical 
abominations  are  reinstated  in  their  old  supremacy; 


56  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

while  Naples  and  Sicily  are  again  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  the  most  imbecile  and  brutal  of  the  incurable 
race  of  Bourbons.  Two  short  years  have  passed 
away  since  Europe  presented  to  the  lover  of  liberty 
and  human  progress  the  most  smiling  aspect  it  had 
ever  worn :  and  in  this  brief  space  of  time,  an  inex- 
orable destiny  has  gathered  together  all  the  far-reach- 
ing anticipations,  all  the  noble  prospects,  all  the  rapid 
conquests,  all  the  rich  achievements  of  that  memorable 
era,  and  covered  them  over  with  these  two  narrow 
words — Hie  jacet  /" 

Why  are  these  melancholy  events  cited  ?  Not,  cer- 
tainly, to  upbraid  the  patriots  of  the  old  world ;  nor  to 
abate  the  indignation  against  their  oppressors,  which 
must  inflame  every  generous  bosom.  But  they  are 
adduced  to  refute  for  the  ten  thousandth  time,  the  ab- 
surd theories  so  prevalent  in  Europe,  and  so  often  pro- 
pounded even  here,  respecting  the  necessary  conditions 
of  national  freedom.  If  there  are  no  journals  now, 
which  carry  the  heading  attached  to  that  of  Camille 
Desmoulins :  "  There  is  no  victim  more  agreeable  to 
the  gods  than  an  immolated  king,"  and  no  orators  to 
maintain,  that  "  the  rights  of  the  people  can  be  written 
only  in  the  blood  of  kings,"  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  this  creed  has  become  obsolete.  It  has  its  devo- 
tees, its  shrines,  its  j)ro2:)aganda,  ^nd  its  purjDoses;  and 
will  have,  so  long  as  there  are  tyrants  among  princes, 
or  anarchists  among  their  subjects.  And  far  more 
numerous,  more  respectable,  and  more  influential  than 


OF  INTERVENTION.  57 

this  band  of  regicides,  is  that  heterogeneous  body  of 
patriots,  comprising  all  faiths  and  languages,  who  in- 
sist that  any  nation  can  provide  for  itself  which  has 
the  reins  put  into  its  own  hands.  These  are  the  par- 
ties to  be  instructed,  if  that  were  possible,  by  the  retro- 
spect we  have  just  taken,  and  by  the  facts  drawn  from 
our  annals  and  those  of  England.  Without  pretend- 
ing to  specify  the  various  causes  which  occasioned  the 
disastrous  results  of  the  late  European  struggle,  is  not 
the  incompetency  of  the  revolutionists  to  turn  the 
crisis  to  any  hopeful  account,  too  palpable  to  admit  of 
a  question  ?  Is  it  not  apparent,  from  the  whole  course 
of  events  between  the  banishment  of  Louis  Philippe 
and  the  restoration  of  Pius  IX.,  that  the  masses  are 
not  yet  fitted  for  complete  emancipation?  In  Robes- 
pierre's last  speech  before  that  Convention  whose  ap- 
petites he  had  so  whetted  with  blood  that  they  were 
now  thirsting  for  his  own,  a  speech  of  which  Sir 
Walter  Scott  says,  "it  was  as  menacing  as  the  first 
distant  rustle  of  the  hurricane,  and  dark  and  lurid  as 
the  eclipse  which  announces  its  approach,"  he  ob- 
served :  "  Do  not  let  us  deceive  ourselves  :  to  found  an 
immense  republic  upon  the  basis  of  reason  and  equality, 
to  unite  in  a  strong  band  all  the  parties  of  this  im- 
mense empire,  is  not  an  enterprise  which  vanity  can 
consummate :  it  is  the  master-piece  of  virtue  and  hu- 
man reason.  Every  faction  grows  from  the  bosom  of 
a  great  revolution — how  suppress  them,  if  you  do  not 
submit  all  their  passions  to  justice?     You  have  not 


58  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

any  other  guarantee  of  liberty  than  the  vigorous  ob- 
servance of  the  principles  of  the  universal  morality 
which  you  have  proclaimed.  What  signifies  to  us  the 
conquest  of  kings,  if  we  are  vanquished  by  the  vices 
which  bring  forth  tyranny !"'''  Unhappily  for  himself 
and  for  France,  he  woke  up  to  the  grandeur  and  dif- 
ficulty of  the  task  his  associates  and  himself  had  un- 
dertaken, only  after  the  axe  was  suspended  for  his 
head,  which  had  struck  down  so  many  of  his  victims. 
Too  late  did  he  discover,  that  a  liberal  constitution 
could  not  be  kept  alive  in  an  atmosphere  feculent  with 
vice  and  drugged  with  atheism.  But  it  is  something 
to  be  able  to  cite  just  and  weighty  sentiments  like 
these,  from  the  lips  of  the  great  high-priest  of  Jacob- 
inism. If  the  patriots  who  imagine  that  a  country 
can  be  made  free  simply  by  driving  the  wheel  of  revo- 
lution through  it,  will  not  hear  Eobespierre  speaking 
as  from  the  scaffold,  "neither  would  they  be  persuaded 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 

But  the  argument  supplied  by  our  history  and  in- 
stitutions, is  far  more  comprehensive.  The  great  thing 
we  have  done  for  the  world,  has  been,  under  Provi- 
dence, to  establish  and  maintain  a  just,  wise,  and  well- 
ordered  government — in  all  essential  particulars,  a 
"model"  of  what  a  government  should  be.  This 
was  what  Europe  needed :  not  elaborate  disquisitions 
on  the  rights  of  man ;  still  less,  a  tumultuous  crusade  to 
replace  her  despotisms  with  republican  charters;  but 

*  Lamartine's  Girondists. 


OF  INTERVENTION.  59 

the  steady,  successful  working,  on  a  sufficiently  ex- 
tended scale,  of  a  polity  comprising  the  fundamental 
principles  of  true  civil  liberty — a  system  embracing 
the  alleged  incompatible  elements  of  independence 
and  stability;  the  supremacy  of  law  and  popular  free- 
dom ;  the  unfettered  exertion  of  personal  aspirations 
in  any  and  all  departments  of  society,  with  the  main- 
tenance of  order  and  the  protection  of  private  and 
public  rights.  In  meeting  this  demand,  we  have  ren- 
dered the  old  world  an  invaluable  service,  even  in 
the  way  of  elucidating  abstract  principles.  France, 
Germany,  Italy,  all  may  learn  here,  if  they  will,  why 
we  have  succeeded,  and  they  have  not;  and  how  hope- 
less it  is  for  them  to  expect  to  reach  our  ends,  if  they 
scoff  at  our  means.  This  Republic  is  a  standing  ref- 
utation of  their  crude  theories  about  human  rights 
and  social  progress,  the  spawn  of  the  miserable  igno- 
rance and  impiety  which  reign  among  them.  It  pours 
contempt  on  the  wretched  quackery  which,  in  a  thou- 
sand forms,  essays  to  cure  their  maladies  without  the 
aid  of  the  Bible,  or  any  recognition  of  the  God  of  the 
Bible.  It  is  a  demonstration  which  no  sagacity  can 
subvert  and  no  artifice  elude,  that  "  religion  is  the  only 
basis  on  which  the  broad  development  of  freedom  can 
rest  ;"'='  that  the  only  adequate  buttresses  of  free  insti- 
tutions are  intelligence  and  virtue;  and  that,  to  make  a 
people  virtuous  and  intelligent,  you  must  give  them, 
not  treatises  on  Communism  and  Pantheism,  not  infi- 

*  Kossuth  to  the  New  York  Clergy. 


60  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

del  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures,  not  monkish  le- 
gends and  cathedral  pantomimes,  but  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  This  has  made  us  what  we  are;  and  this 
alone  can  make  them  what  they  ought  to  be.  There 
are  minds  all  over  Europe  beginning  to  perceive  this, 
and  to  understand  that  the  first  step  towards  assimi- 
lating their  institutions  to  ours,  must  be  to  secure  for 
themselves  an  open  Bible  and  a  pure  faith.  Should 
a  merciful  Providence  concede  to  them  these  priceless 
gifts,  the  political  regeneration  of  Europe,  with  all 
other  needful  blessings,  would  soon  follow  in  their 
train. 

In  opposition,  then,  to  all  the  schemes  devised  or 
to  be  devised  for  embroiling  us  in  the  disputes  of 
the  other  continent,  we  maintain  that  the  best  thing 
we  can  do  for  the  world,  the  only  method  in  which 
we  can  fulfil  the  beneficent  mission  confided  to  us,  is, 
to  preserve  this  Union  inviolate.  We  hold  it,  let  it 
be  remembered,  not  for  our  own  interest  or  honor 
merely,  but  as  Trustees  for  mankind.  It  is  ours  to 
administer,  but  not  to  dispose  of;  ours  to  enjoy  and  to 
transmit,  but  not  ours  to  destroy.  We  have  no  more 
right  to  destroy  it,  than  we  should  have,  if  such  a 
thing  were  possible,  to  blot  the  sun  out  of  the  firma- 
ment. For  the  entire  race  have  a  stake  in  this 
government.  "  Wherever  you  go,  you  find  the  United 
States  held  up  as  an  example  by  the  advocates  of 
freedom.  The  mariner  no  more  looks  to  his  compass 
or  takes  his  departure  by  the  sun,  than  does  the  lover 


OF  INTERVENTION.  61 

of  libert}'^  abroad  shape  his  course  by  reference  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States."''' 

The  recent  course  of  events,  in  either  hemisphere 
has  increased  both  the  importance  and  the  difficulty 
of  the  task  thus  devolved  on  us.  Fresh  causes  of 
alienation,  now  happily  repressed  for  a  season,  have 
sprung  up  among  ourselves;  and  the  disasters  which 
have  attended  the  popular  movements  abroad,  are  en- 
larging our  domestic  burdens  and  threatening  to  com- 
plicate our  foreign  relations.  If,  in  the  infancy  of  this 
country,  Europe  could  regard  us  with  comparative 
indifference,  all  indifference  has  vanished  before  our 
early  and  vigorous  manhood.  The  name  of  the 
•'  United  States"  is  mixed  up  with  the  intricate  web 
of  European  Diplomacy ;  it  gleams  out  in  their  state- 
papers;  it  is  a  watchword  in  every  popular  insurrec- 
tion. Cabinets  no  longer  ignore  the  question  :  "What 
course  will  the  Government  at  Washington  adopt  ?" 
The  friends  of  liberty  in  every  kingdom  appeal  to  us 
to  aid  them  in  their  projects,  and  these  appeals  are 
certain  to  be  pressed  by  a  large  and  powerful  portion 
of  our  own  population.  It  will  be  well  if,  in  these  cri- 
tical circumstances,  the  present  generation  are  content 
to  tread  in  the  steps  of  WASHINGTON ;  if,  instead 
of  plunging  into  the  wars  of  Europe,  we  display  our 
sympathy  for  liberty  there  by  measures  which  will  in 
the  end  do  far  more  to  promote  it.  Let  us  foster  the 
growth  of  liberal  principles  among  those  nations,  by 

*  Mr.  AVebster, 


62  THE  NEW  DOCTRINE 

all  such   diplomatic   arrangements   as  we  can  adopt 
without  compromising  our  settled  policy  of  non-inter- 
vention.    Let  our  countrymen  prosecute  the  benevo- 
lent work  of  supplying  them  with  the  word  of  God ; 
for   they  will  never   have   rational    and   permanent 
liberty  until  they  get  the  Bible.     Let  us  educate  and 
Christianize  the  masses  they  send  to  us,  who  not  only 
act  upon  us  for  good  or  evil,  but  re-act  with  energy  upon 
the  countries  they  have  left.     And  let  us  take  care 
OF  OUR  Union  ;   for  this,  in  respect  to  constitutional 
liberty,  is  the  last  hope  of  Europe  and  of  the  world. 
A  legion  of  adverse  evils  is  arrayed  against  it.     Igno- 
rance, immorality,  ambition,  fanaticism,  faction,  law- 
lessness, sectional  animosities,  to  which,  with  the  con- 
dition  of  the   other   continent  before  us,  may  well 
be  added,  atheism,  and  the  insidious,  grasping  spirit 
of  the  Papal  Hierarchy — all  are  hostile  to  the  Union, 
and  must  be  met  and  vanquished  if  w^e  would  pre- 
serve it.     With  God's  help,  they  can  be  vanquished. 
We  have  intelligence,  talent,  piety,  and  patriotism 
enough  left  to  do  this  or  anything  else  which  may 
require  to  be  done  for  the  sake  of  our  beloved  country. 
Let  all  who  really  love  the  country,  and  desire  to  see 
the  Union  transmitted  in  its  glorious  integrity  to  our 
children,  discharge  their  duty.    Let  the  people  be  edu- 
cated ;   the  Bible  lodged  in  every  house ;   the  Gospel 
everywhere  preached;  the  Sabbath  and  its  ordinances 
honored ;  wise  and  upright  men  selected  as  our  rulers ; 
the  laws  faithfully  executed ;  God's  universal  provi- 


OF  INTERVENTION.  63 

deuce  acknowledged,  and  liis  protection  continually 
invoked  throughout  our  borders — and  we  may  confi- 
dently expect  the  perpetuity  of  our  institutions.  We 
may  look  forward  without  presumption  to  a  future  as 
brilliant  as  our  past  career  has  been  illustrious.  We 
shall  consummate  with  honor  the  sublime  mission  con- 
fided to  us  for  mankind,  and  achieve  a  yet  more 
signal   fulfilment   of   the   prophecy,    "All    nations 

SHALL   CALL   YOU    BLESSED  !" 


THE     END. 


7c  ^JTf^  '<"<< 


c..^^ 


<^^-v^ 


msi 


^<t.x  e 


<^^:r  '^ 


^VlOi^  <i^ 


CccC 


^^ 


■^S^     Vs. 


■Tfras^ 


ccr 


t^C^ 


&^ 


^t 


^K^ 


^u 


^■cr^ 


<^^" 


